A woman was pushed to the ground by a stranger who called her a “stupid Asian b—h” near Herald Square, cops said Tuesday while releasing photos of the suspected bigot.
The hateful creep approached the 56-year-old victim from behind at West 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue around 3:15 p.m. Dec. 31 and shoved her “without any prior conversation or provocation,” according to police.
“Stupid Asian b—h,” the attacker muttered. “Do you want another one?”
The maniac then fled in an unknown direction, cops said.
The woman suffered a minor injury to her arm but refused medical attention.
The attacker was described as an adult male with a light complexion, who stands about 5-foot-6 and has and “a large build,” cops said. He also has short dark hair and a full beard.
Police released surveillance photos of the suspect obtained from the vicinity of the incident. He was last seen wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with white lettering on the back, camouflaged sweatpants and black sneakers, cops said.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
A crew of masked thieves pulled off a brazen smash-and-grab heist at a high-end Brooklyn jewelry store — making off with up to $2 million in gems in less than a minute.
Employees and shoppers were still inside Facets Jewelry in Park Slope around 5 p.m. Sunday when the three crooks stormed in, threatened to shoot a worker and began smashing display cases with hammers, police and witnesses said.
“I am shocked,” shop owner Irina Sulay told The Post on Monday. “Honestly, it’s very scary. I couldn’t even talk yesterday. I was hyperventilating, crying, sobbing, shaking.
“The whole thing lasted 38 seconds. They took two and a half full cases of diamond engagement rings, newer pieces we’ve designed in-house and pieces we’ve collected — art deco and Edwardian rings,” she said. “I want to say 100 rings.” Sulay said the stolen goods are valued at between $1 million and $2 million.
Thieves made off with up to $2 million in valuables from Facets Jewelry in Park Slope on Sunday.Google Maps
The owner said she was helping a customer when the three crooks showed up outside, with two lingering and the third ringing the buzzer to get into the store.
“I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt,” she explained. “It’s difficult. You try not to racially profile anyone and not be judgmental or discriminatory.
Once inside, she said, “the guy reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hammer — I didn’t even understand how a hammer could fit in there — and he says, ‘and this is how you use a hammer.’ He smashed three of our main displays.”
She said one of her employees reached for the phone, “but she’s shaking so she hands the phone to me and that’s when the guy in the door yells, ‘Don’t move! What the f–k are you going? I’m going to shoot you!’”
The three then took off with the merchandise and remain on the loose.
No one was physically hurt in the robbery — nor did the thieves actually display a gun.
But the incident nonetheless left workers and customers shaken, Sulay said.
“Just yesterday we were talking about the new year, that it was going to be a good year, and eight days later an insane situation has occurred,” she said.
“This is a woman-run business. We’re all mothers. There’s three women in the front.”
Thieves made off with up to $2 million in goods from Facets Jewelry in Park Slope.Google Maps
A Queens fare-beater pulled a gun and hissed, “I should kill you” to an MTA bus driver — who dared to ask the scofflaw to pay, cops said Sunday.
The twisted transit rider, who was wearing a brightly colored hoodie, boarded a Q17 MTA bus at Horace Harding Expressway and Kissena Boulevard around 9:30 p.m.. on Dec. 23 without paying the fare, cops said.
A fare-beater on a Queens bus pulled a gun on the driver, who had only asked the man to pay. Crime Stoppers
The 59-year-old bus driver asked the scofflaw to come over to him, at which point the man began arguing, prompting the operator to ask him to leave the vehicle.
As the fare-beater exited the bus, he snarled, “I should kill you” while pointing a firearm at the driver, cops said.
The gunman was caught on surveillance camera on the Q17 bus.Crime Stoppers
“The individual then walked in front of the bus and pointed the firearm at the bus operator again before fleeing to parts unknown,” police said in a news release containing photos of the suspect dressed in a colorful hoodie with letters on it.
There were no injuries, cops said.
The gunman is described as approximately 5’7″ tall with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black face mask, black bubble jacket with a light, multicolored hood, black pants and black sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Disgraced “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah will be sentenced by a federal judge in Manhattan Friday for running a yearslong telemarketing scam that targeted elderly Americans.
Federal prosecutors want Judge Sidney Stein to hand the fallen reality TV star up to 10 years in prison over the scheme, arguing she helped siphon the life savings of her victims for nearly a decade.
“At the defendant’s direction, victims were defrauded over and over again until they had nothing left,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing submission.
“[Shah] and her co-conspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims’ bank accounts were empty, their credit cards were at their limits, and there was nothing more to take,” they wrote.
Shah, 49, pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for providing “leads” about who to target to a crew of telemarketers that duped victims into investing in dubious online projects.
The scammers offered their marks bogus business services beginning in 2012 — then pocketed the cash and provided the victims “products” and “services” that were of little or no value.
At her plea hearing, Shah told Judge Stein she knew the services being offered were basically worthless.
Shah pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.Heidi Gutman/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
“From 2012 to March 2021 in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, I agreed with others to commit wire fraud,” Shah said.
“I did this by knowingly providing customer names to people who were marketing business services that had little or no value,” she added.
Shah’s defense attorneys argued in their own sentencing submission that she should serve three years in prison, arguing that while she played a significant role in the fraud, she was not a leader of the operation.
Federal prosecutors have asked Judge Sidney Stein to sentence Shah to 10 years in prison.Gabe Ginsberg/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
“Ms. Shah’s piece of the puzzle, though important, was not enough to carry out this fraud without these other crucial pieces controlled and directed by experienced criminals (who were not Ms. Shah),” her attorneys wrote.
“There is neither reason nor evidence to place Ms. Shah at the ‘Godfather’ or ‘Kingpin’ level of this fraud,” they added.
A Connecticut state lawmaker was killed on the road early Thursday morning after a wrong-way driver slammed into him and his vehicle erupted into flames, authorities said.
State Rep. Quentin Williams was fatally struck on his trip home from the governor’s inauguration ball — and just hours after being sworn in for his third term in office.
“We were about as close as any two people could come, and I can just say that I’ve rarely gotten calls … I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a call as devastating as the call that I got at 6:06 this morning,” State Sen. Matt Lesser said, according to WTNH.
The tragic crash happened around 12:30 a.m. as the 39-year-old Democrat was traveling southbound on Route 9 in Cromwell en route to Middletown, the area that he represented in the state House of Representatives. His car became engulfed in flames following the head-on impact, officials said.
Connecticut State Representative Quentin “Q” Williams died early Thursday. He was 39. Connecticut House Democrats
The town where the accident occurred was about 15 miles from Hartford where the governor’s inaugural ball took place.
The wrong-way driver, 27-year-old Kimede Mustafaj, also died. It’s unknown if alcohol or drugs were involved.
Gov. Ned Lamont ordered flags in the state in to be flown at half-staff in light of the stunning tragedy.
“This is devastating news, and I am incredibly saddened by this tragedy,” the governor said in a statement.
The state representative was remembered for his “infectiously optimistic personality.”AP
“Quentin had an infectiously optimistic personality, and he absolutely loved having the opportunity to represent his lifelong home of Middletown at the State Capitol. Public service was his passion, and he was always advocating on behalf of the people of his hometown.”
Williams, who graduated from Middletown schools, was the new co-chair of the General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. That committee was going to meet for the first time Thursday, but instead all legislative activity was postponed until Monday.
The state Capitol and Legislative Office Building were both closed until next week.
Williams, also known as Q and a rising star in Connecticut politics, leaves behind his wife and mother. He grew up in public housing and went on to become the first African American to represent Middletown in the General Assembly, according to his biography on his legislative website.
“Representative Williams truly embodied the phrase larger than life,” Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim said in a statement. “His laugh, smile, and presence were felt in every space shared with him.
The state Capitol was closed until next week.ullstein bild via Getty Images
“His passing is a true loss for our community. A light has been dimmed today.”
Lesser, the state senator, said his slain colleague talked about running for statewide office one day, or even for Congress.
“These are all things that he would think about,” he said. “We’ll never know. He had big dreams and hopes … I think he had a damn good chance of realizing.”
The wife of late ABC producer Dax Tejera was busted hours after his fatal heart attack — for allegedly endangering their two little girls at a posh Manhattan hotel, an NYPD spokesman said Monday.
Tejera, 37, a producer for “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” died Dec. 23, and cops was called to The Yale Club at 50 Vanderbilt Ave. later that night over a report of unattended children, police said.
A preliminary investigation “revealed that a 2-year-old female and a 5-month-old female were left alone inside of a hotel room for an extended period of time,” police said.
Their mother, Dax’s widow Veronica Tejera, was later charged with two counts of “acting in a manner injurious to a child,” according to police.
Veronica was hit with a desk-appearance ticket and will have to appear in criminal court at a future date.
Dax Tejera was an executive producer on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Dax and Veronica Tejera with their children.daxtejera/InstagramThe couple posing with an elephant.daxtejera/InstagramDax Tejera died Dec. 23, and his wife was hit with child-endangerment charges later that night, the NYPD said.daxtejera/Instagram
His death was announced in an internal e-mail at ABC News on Dec. 24 by division President Kim Godwin, who noted his “energy, passion and love” for his work, according to reports.
Just three weeks into her tenure as the first woman to helm the New York City Police Department, Commissioner Keechant Sewell faced an immense tragedy in her new force — the fatal shooting of two police officers in a Harlem ambush.
Her first year on the job was book-ended by attacks on cops when an alleged Islamic extremist came at officers with a machete just blocks from Times Square on New Year’s Eve, leaving three injured.
“As evidenced last night, there are significant dangers in this profession,” Sewell said in a message to the city’s Finest on New Year’s Day. “Be it your first day, or any other, you face the challenges and malevolent forces across this city head on, to prevent the victimization of others.
“This is the legacy of the NYPD,” she continued, “I am honored to serve with each of you and am truly grateful that our officers will recover.”
Praised by Mayor Eric Adams for her “emotional intelligence” when hired, the media-shy commissioner has given few interviews — even hurrying away from a Post reporter at an event earlier this year — and rarely strayed off script in public.
But Sewell’s impassioned speech at Harlem Hospital, and her turning down questions from the press there late on the evening of Jan. 21, 2021 — when a domestic violence suspect shot Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora — gained her some early respect among the rank-and-file.
As of this past Sunday, murders were down 13.1% in New York City compared to last yearChristopher Sadowski
Cops felt some optimism that the outsider from Nassau County would address numerous long-standing issues in the department — but low morale among the force has been one among several challenges the new commissioner has had to face since taking office.
While the Big Apple has seen a dip in murders in 2022, the NYPD has struggled to stem soaring crime — including major felonies such as robberies and assaults — and grappled with a spate of heinous, high-profile subway attacks.
The NYPD refused to make the police commissioner available for an interview with The Post it could select the reporter, and did not comment.
In 2022, Adams and his Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks directed Sewell’s police administration to focus on the unprecedented surge in gun violence.
This lead to the rollout of rebranded anti-crime teams, dubbed Neighborhood Safety Teams, which fulfilled a campaign promise of Adams, as well as a redeployment of desk cops across the city.
That figure still remains a far cry from the pre-pandemic levels in the city — and all other major felonies aside from homicide were up on the year. Overall index crime — meaning those against a person or property — was up nearly 23% as of last week.
Police have another grim trend to overcome: one in 10 of gun violence victims in 2022 were children. New York City’s youth has increasingly fallen prey to wild shootouts or have been targeted over an argument.
The department and mayor’s public safety team also have yet to lay out a plan to combat the wave of retail theft in the city. Adams recently held a summit with dozens of business leaders and crime fighters to brainstorm a plan.
Mayor Eric Adams has been front-in-center when it comes to public safety while Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has worked behind the scenesWilliam Farrington
Meanwhile, unlike her predecessors — who were eager to speak in front of the cameras — Sewell has opted to work more behind the scenes in the department.
She has taken a back seat to the mayor, who has been front-and-center at most large public safety announcements, most notably when Adams unveiled the Neighborhood Safety Teams, and his mental health plan for homelessness.
Police sources said the commissioner even went off the grid ahead of one press conference she had been slated to attend this year, forcing her first deputy to step in at the last minute.
Sewell has appeared at just as many breaking news events as her immediate predecessor Dermot Shea during each of their first year on the job.
But Shea — — who assumed the position in 2019 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio — also sat for 79 interviews with reporters, while Sewell has only done nine, according to their schedules and press clippings.
Still, the new commish’s scaled-back public schedule has earned her points with the rank-and-file.
Morale has been a long-standing issue among the ranksChristopher Sadowski
“She seems more genuine than her predecessor, and diversifying the executives by replacing the old mentality chiefs that can’t adapt to the changes in time,” a police source said.
Another police officer, with more than 20 years on the job, said the commissioner seemed to be making improvements in the department.
“It’s the job, the way the job hammers everyone,” the cops said of morale among the force. Speaking to people, they kind of like her.”
Others believe little has changed, with surging overtime and favoritism continuing to go unchecked in the new administration.
“Not much teeth there in her administration,” a police source said.
Another source griped the mayor is at fault.
“He promised too much and he can’t deliver… ask any cop.”
Phillip Banks at a press conference in 2014.Robert Mecea
Some officers, who saw the former Nassau County Police Department chief of detectives as a carpetbagger when she first stepped into the role, have since changed their tune — and praised Sewell for telling cops she would amend the disciplinary guidelines.
“People are saying it had to be changed because it was overkill,” said one source of the NYPD’s discipline matrix, which lays out penalties for misconduct by officers and was developed with the help of advocacy groups and the public.
Insiders opined the move meant Banks was the man behind the curtain at the NYPD.
At the start, Banks often side-stepped the commissioner to speak with three-star chiefs and influenced a series of internal moves — including personally firing the head of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick, police sources said.
Since then, rumors have circulated in the department of ongoing power struggle at One Police Plaza.
“The word is she fights with Banks on a lot of things,” one source, the Brooklyn cop with more than 20 years on the job, said.
But Sewell seemed to be pushing back against the male-dominated power structure — including when she delivered a fiery and well-received speech to the Policewomen’s Endowment Association in November.
“Understand that you will be second-guessed, told what you should say, told what you should write by some with half your experience,” she said.
“They don’t know any better.”
Police sources said that in recent months however, a new faction in police leadership has emerged following the appointment of Jeff Madrey — a longtime friend of the mayor’s — as chief of department.
Chief Jeff Maddrey was named chief of department in NovemberChristopher Sadowski
“It’s commendable that [he’s] loyal to his friends,” one source said of the mayor, “but on some things he should just be like, ‘Yo, bro, fall back and let her do her thing. Mind your business.’”
Three overnight stabbings in the Bronx and Manhattan left one person dead and a man and woman injured, cops said.
A 63-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the chest and a 38-year-old woman was stabbed in the torso in front of 1335 College Avenue in the Bronx at around 4 a.m., cops said.
Both took private transportation to Bronx Lebanon Hospital where the man was pronounced dead, cops said. The woman was in stable condition.
The “victims were involved in a dispute with an unknown individual who stabbed them,” a police spokeswoman said. There was no known motive, she said.
Meanwhile, a man was stabbed in the stomach at East 21st Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron District at around 2:30 a.m., police said.
A 38-year-old woman was stabbed in the torso in front of 1335 College Avenue in the Bronx at around 4 a.m., according to police. Seth Gottfried
A 63-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the chest early in the morning in the Bronx. Seth Gottfried
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A man was rushed to a hospital after being stabbed in the stomach in Manhattan’s Flatiron District at around 2:30 a.m., police said. Seth Gottfried
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He was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The suspect, who was wearing a yellow jacket and gray jeans, fled on 21st Street on foot, cops said. There was no known motive.
“I’m being held here on burglary — burglary!” roared Shanice Aviles, 30, during an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Post at Rikers Island. “I didn’t take any of his stuff. I didn’t have any of his stuff on me.”
Aviles has been fingered as one of the Upper East Side 19th Precinct’s “top five burglars,” according to law enforcement sources. Her rap sheet lists at least 26 prior arrests, including 16 this year alone for burglary and petty larceny.
So at around 2 a.m. on Dec. 19, cops were tracking Aviles when, she told The Post, she was heading to her Upper Manhattan home after visiting her brother in Long Island City. She said she stopped in front of an East 65th Street apartment, where the 79-year-old “Goodfellas” actor happened to be asleep upstairs and his daughter in a bedroom, after she saw the basement door ajar.
Aviles is a serial and known thief in the Upper East Side, with a rap sheet including at least 26 arrests.
“It felt like it was a set up” by police, Aviles fumed, without explaining why she decided to barge into the A-lister’s luxe apartment — which she said she found out was De Niro’s only after being cuffed.
“I love his movies, all of them! My mother, my grandmother, my grandfather, we all used to watch them,” she said, tears streaming down her face to her dark green uniform, explaining that she didn’t intend to cause him any trouble.
During the hour-long interview, Aviles repeatedly pleaded for a chance to say she was sorry to her Hollywood hero, who told reporters he was “OK” after the incident.
De Niro was asleep upstairs when Aviles allegedly broke into the East 65th Street rental Matthew McDermott
“I would love to apologize to him,” she said.
“People have said he’s mean, that he’s not a nice guy, but I think he’s a good guy,” she added. “He could’ve made some calls and made my bail a lot more.”
Police disputed Aviles’ sob story, stating in a criminal complaint that officers witnessed the suspect testing the locks on commercial buildings’ doors in the neighborhood, before using a tool to break into DeNiro’s home.
Aviles denied breaking into the rental on her way home, claiming that the basement door was ajarMatthew McDermott
Once inside, Aviles wasn’t impressed with the Oscar winner’s $69,000-a-month, four-story rental, which sources said is decked out with photos of De Niro.
“There was dog crap” on a doggy pad, Aviles recalled, along with food baskets from bakeries. “It didn’t look like someone was there.”
Officers followed her into the apartment, where they caught her wearing a pair of headphones she stole from De Niro’s home and fiddling with his iPad as she rummaged through the presents underneath “The Irishman” star’s Christmas tree, according to the complaint and sources.
Aviles said she was a fan of De Niro and wanted to apologize to her Hollywood hero. Getty Images
Aviles was slapped with a second-degree burglary charge for the Grinch-worthy heist — just a week after a judge waived her $5,000 bail on charges in a recent string of burglaries so that she could enter a drug treatment program.
For the DeNiro break-in, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge ordered Aviles be held on $40,000 cash bail, noting she’d skipped out on rehab.
“I couldn’t afford [that],” she moaned, swearing she would attend a treatment program if a judge would give her another chance.
Aviles, who faces up to 15 years on the top charge, blamed the hefty bail on the fact that she was found in the home of one of the world’s most famous actors, rather than her extensive criminal history.
One person was killed and three others injured when a gunman opened fire in The Bronx on Wednesday night, sources said.
The four victims were shot at Southern Boulevard and East Tremont Avenue in Crotona at around 6:30 p.m., according to police.
A man was killed and three other injured after a shooting in the Bronx.Citizen
The 911 caller reported that the shooting happened in front of a chicken shop, though officials erected police tape outside a Gourmet Deli on the corner of the two major streets.
A man was pronounced dead on arrival. The other three victims are expected to survive, sources said.
Police have not disclosed information on the gunman. It was not immediately clear what sparked the shooting.
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