BY ALBERT AMATEAU | The annual 10th Precinct awards night on June 29 honored the outstanding men and women officers who protect the people of Chelsea along with the security department of Penn South Co-op and the campus police of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
The event, held at FIT (Seventh Ave. & W. 27th St.), also served to introduce the new commanding officer of the precinct, Captain Paul Lanot, and to recognize the outgoing commander, Deputy Inspector Michele Irizarry. Capt. Lanot was previously Executive Officer of the Midtown South Precinct and Insp. Irizarry now commands the 115th Precinct in Queens.
The 10th Precinct, which extends roughly from W. 14th to W. 43rd Sts. west of Seventh Ave., includes Chelsea residential streets and commercial areas, as well as large nightclubs and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Officers-of-the-Month awards for the past 12 months went to 13 precinct police officers.
Officers Kasey Homer and Jordan Rossi were the recipients for June 2015. While on patrol they received a call about a man threatening to jump from the overpass of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. They began to engage him in conversation and were able to get close enough to grab onto him and pull him to safety.
Officer Daniel Dongvort won the award for July 2015. While with the cabaret unit (a nightlife patrol team), he was informed that several women patrons of a nightclub reported missing items from their handbags. Outside the club, Dongvort noticed three women who turned and walked away when they saw him. He stopped them and found they had credit cards from nine different people. The arrest closed out four open complaints.
Officer Timothy Finn won the award for August 2015. After hearing a report that three suspects committed two robberies on the bicycle path on 12th Ave., Finn noticed three men who fit the description. When arrested, one of them was found to have a loaded sawed-off shotgun. All three had extensive criminal records and are awaiting trial.
Officer Patrick Mooney won the award for September 2015. While assigned as a domestic violence officer, Mooney aided in the arrest of a man alleged to have sexually and physically abused a victim. Mooney convinced the victim to go forward with the complaint. The man was convicted and sentenced to a lengthy prison term.
Officer Scott Williams won the award for October 2015. While working anti-crime on a borough-wide robbery pattern, Williams and the squad lieutenant spotted a man who matched a wanted poster description, and who was looking in the window of a bank on W. 18th St. and Seventh Ave. They followed the suspect for several blocks as he looked in the windows of different banks. Arriving at the Capital One Bank at W. 17th St. and Eighth Ave., the suspect met with two others, and they began changing into clothes that matched a previous description. Williams and the lieutenant arrested all three. The arrests closed two borough-wide robbery patterns.
Officer Roger Ali won the award for November 2015. Ali and his partner were stopped by a cab driver who said two passengers in his cab pulled out a gun and were pointing it at people in the street. After a brief canvass of the area, Ali apprehended the two suspects without incident. A loaded handgun was recovered from one of the suspects.
Officer Shawn Mooney won the award for December 2015. Assigned to the Ninth Precinct for the day, Mooney and his partner saw a speeding car crash into another vehicle on Avenue C. The suspect then tried to carjack the vehicle he had just collided with. When Mooney approached, the suspect fled on foot, and Mooney gave chase and apprehended him. The suspect had carjacked two prior vehicles and was convicted on four counts of robbery.
Officer James Argenziano won the award for January 2016. While responding to a ringing alarm in the Starrett-Lehigh Building on W. 26th St. between 11th and 12th Aves., Argenziano spotted a man on the fifth floor taking things from an office. The suspect attempted to flee, but Argenziano gave chase and arrested him. The suspect had been arrested 43 times — eight for burglary — and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Officer Kevin Martinez was the award for February 2016. Martinez and his partner were on a midnight anti-crime patrol of W. 40th St., between Ninth and 10th Aves., where there had been an increase in street robberies. Martinez noticed a group of men around the bus parking lot as a delivery man rode by on a bicycle. The men grabbed the delivery man, threw him to the ground and robbed him. Martinez was able to arrest the suspects, closing out a robbery pattern that had six open complaints.
Officer Tamarah Pinckney won the award for March 2016. Pinckney and her partner were on anti-crime patrol when they heard a radio message about a man wanted for sexually assaulting a woman. They canvassed the area and noticed a man fitting the description. After a brief chase, Pinckney arrested the suspect, who is currently awaiting trial.
Officer Kevin Barry won the award for April 2016. Barry and his partner were on patrol when they saw a suspect strike a victim in the face, take his cellphone, and flee north on Eighth Ave. After a chase of several blocks, Barry arrested the suspect, who was convicted, and is serving four years in prison.
Officer Sinan Cagirici won the award for May 2016. Cagirici was on patrol with his partner when they saw two men struggling with another man on W. 18th St. and Ninth Ave. The suspects fled when the saw the radio car, but Cargirici ran after them through the Fulton Houses. They were finally arrested. Investigation revealed that they were wanted for five similar robberies.
Detective Michael Miller won the award for the 10th Precinct Detective of the Year. Among his many achievements in the past 12 months was his response to a report of shots fired. Miller chased a suspect and arrested him, in possession of a shotgun, on the grounds of the Chelsea Houses.
Also honored last week were the nine Auxiliary Police Officers of the 10th Precinct, including their leaders, Lieutenant Robert Shaw and Sergeant Juan Sanchez.
Larry O’Neill, Director of Security for the Penn South Co-op, paid tribute to the officers of the 10th Precinct for the attention they pay to the 13-building complex, housing some 3,600 residents in nearly 3,000 apartments.
Members of the Penn South security staff who came in for special recognition were Sebastian Drago and his partner, Michael Sitkowksy. On the morning of Nov. 8 last year they caught a suspect trying to rob a woman at a Metro Card vending machine in the subway station entrance on Eighth Ave. and W. 25th St.
Another Penn South security officer, Rolando Urena, was also honored for exemplary service to the co-op and its residents.
Mario Cabrera, director of campus safety for FIT, presented the awards to members of the campus police.
The Excellent Duty Award went to Officer James Bennett. On June 14 of this year, Bennett responded to an alert that a summer visitor to the campus was having an anxiety attack. He calmed down the combative victim and moved her to a safe place to await the Emergency Medical Service team. During the EMS evaluation, the victim became combative again, and Bennett carefully applied restraints so that she did not hurt herself or others.
The FIT unit citation went to a team composed of Sgt. Dwayne Brooks and Officers Steve Clarke, Nicholas Perez, Rondell Parrilla, Presley Ramkishun, Edward Allene, Djawe Badji, William Horton, Tony Soler, and Robert Martin.
On April 18 this year, a passerby was robbed of her cellphone and Martin called for assistance. He went after the suspect, who had fled when the team approached. The suspect was apprehended on Eighth Ave. and held until city police arrived. Later, the team learned that the suspect was wanted for a string of robberies, including an attack on an elderly man just before he was arrested.
“The unit not only made our campus safer, but made the city safer as well,’ Cabrera said.
Awards for five years of dedicated service went to FIT officers Hector Forte, Joseph Audler, Khemwante Gangaram, Deseo Europe, Luis Hernandez, Gaston Smartt, Jakyln Acevedo, Cesar Soto, Prospero Demarchena, Donovan Powell, and Lionel Jagbir.
Awards for 10 years of dedicated service went to Devidatt Kishore, Presley Ramkishun, Errol McPherson, Valzean Valace, Avril Mosley, and Sayuf Macuf.
