Police blotter
Lower East Side man booked
for delivering deadly punch in
East Village fight: NYPD
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Detectives picked up a
Lower East Side man on
Monday who allegedly
swung a fatal fi st at a 60-yearold
man on an East Village street
during a fi ght last month.
Anthony LaRocca, 19, of Allen
Street faces assault charges
in connection with the Feb. 10
attack that claimed the life of
Anthony Fabriani, 60, of Brigham
Street in Brooklyn.
Additional charges against
LaRocca are pending the results of
the ongoing investigation, sources
familiar with the case said.
Law enforcement sources
said that LaRocca and Fabriani
got into a verbal dispute for
unknown reasons at the corner
of 1st Avenue near 12th Street at
about 2:51 p.m. on Feb. 10.
The words turned physical,
authorities noted, when LaRocca
allegedly punched Fabriani in
the left eye. Police said the blow
caused Fabriani to fall to the
sidewalk and strike his head
on the concrete, rendering him
semi-conscious.
After swinging his fi st, cops
said, LaRocca allegedly fled
from the scene northbound
along 1st Avenue before turning
westbound on East 14th Street.
Offi cers from the 9th Precinct
responded to the incident. EMS
units brought Fabriani to Bellevue
Hospital with a fractured
skull, a broken eye socket and
swelling of the brain.
Fabriani died on Feb. 23 from
the injuries he sustained in the attack,
police said. Detectives then
classifi ed his death as a homicide.
Family court officer fatally shoots
himself while on duty in Manhattan
The suspect behind a deadly
assault in the East Village on
Feb. 10, 2021, whom police
identified as 19-year-old
Anthony LaRocca of the
Lower East Side.
Court officers lined up to honor the deceased.
One-man crime spree in Manhattan sought for burglaries and assaults
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Detectives in Manhattan are looking for a versatile
villain sought for burglarizing several restaurants
and attacking two people in fi ve separate incidents
last month.
The NYPD released images on Sunday night of the
suspect wanted for his one-man crime tour of the island,
including a violent stabbing of a 38-year-old man in the
Financial District back on Feb. 13.
In that incident, law enforcement sources said, the
suspect attacked the victim during a dispute in front of 83
Pearl St. at about noon.
Cops reported that the argument turned violent when
the suspect pulled out a sharp object and stabbed the man
in the face. The attacker then fl ed the scene on foot in an
unknown direction.
Offi cers from the 1st Precinct responded to the stabbing.
The victim was treated for his injuries.
Police said the suspect also attacked beat a 60-year-old
woman with a loaded bag during a random attack that
BY DEAN MOSES
A court offi cer committed
suicide with his own
firearm inside of the
New York County Family Court
building in Lower Manhattan on
Monday afternoon, according to
the New York State Court Offi cers
Association.
The steps of New York County
Family Court located at 60 Lafayette
St. became the backdrop of
fl ashing emergency lights and a
revolving door of fi rst responders
just after 3 p.m. on March 1st.
According to Dennis Quirk,
President of the New York State
Court Offi cers Association, the
court offi cer asked a colleague
to cover him during a bathroom
break.
Upon entering the restroom,
Quirk said, the unnamed offi cer
fatally shot himself in the head.
To those who knew him, this
tragedy could not come as more
of a shock. With over 15 years of
service as a court offi cer, he was
a man that was said to always put
others fi rst and someone friends
could rely on for help.
“He was fi ne this morning. He
was a great court offi cer, everybody
loved him. Nobody has any
explanation about what happened,”
Quirk told amNewYork Metro.
One of fi ve siblings, Quirk said,
the 50-year-old man came from
a family of court offi cers. In fact,
two of his brothers also worked in
the same position. According to
Quirk, the man also resided with
one of his brothers who also said
he seemed “fi ne.”
“You would never in a million
years would think something like
this would happen with him, he
would take the shirt off his back
to help anybody,” Quirk added.
Fellow court offi cers lined up
The suspect behind a series of assaults and
burglaries in Manhattan in February 2021.
occurred on the morning of Feb. 23 near Union Square.
According to law enforcement sources, the assailant
used the black bag to strike the woman in the back of her
head without provocation in front of 10 Union Square East
at about 6:50 a.m. that morning. Following the assault, the
outside the entranceway to send
off the body with a fi nal show
of respect to honor their fallen
offi cer. However, it was swiftly
decided to remove the remains
from a back entrance.
A coroner’s van could be seen
docking in a garage in an alleyway
behind the building accompanied
by NYPD offi cers before pulling
away.
“He was a great person,” Quirk
said, still in shock.
If you or someone you care
about appears suicidal, call the
Suicide Hotline at 800-273-8255.
Counselors are available to talk
24 hours a day.
perpetrator ran from the scene along 14th Street.
Cops from the 13th Precinct responded to the attack.
The victim suffered minor head swelling.
Through an investigation, police connected the assailant
behind both attacks to the following burglaries:
At about 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, the perpetrator broke into
the Gumbae restaurant at 67 Murray St. in Tribeca and
stole an iPad from the front desk.At 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 10,
the suspect broke through a locked door of the Shanghai
Mong restaurant, at 30 West 32nd St. in Midtown, and
stole $300 from the cash register.At 8:45 a.m. on Feb. 23,
the crook entered the Elgin restaurant at 64 West 48th St.
in Midtown and removed two tablets and $250 in cash
from the hostess stand and cash register.
The suspect is shown in these security camera screenshots
from footage taken near two of the crime scenes.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts
can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish,
dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at
nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All
calls and messages are kept confi dential.
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