A Death in Times Square
Posted on December 10th, 2009 in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
A plainclothes cop just shot and killed a guy in Times Square. The man was one of several scam artists I’ve seen there in recent months who pretend to be giving away copies of “my CD,” and then, if you make the mistake of taking it, pressure you to give them “a contribution.” These guys can be pretty intimidating; they’re up in your face asking for money.
The cop is part of an undercover unit trying to crack down on this illegal practice. The con man in question turned out to be carrying a Mac-10 semiautomatic pistol he bought from a Virginia gun dealer—massively illegal in New York—and fired first at the cop. He missed. The cop didn’t.
On the man’s body, police found a business card for a Virginia gun dealer, Gary A. Lewis, who runs Gary’s Guns & Transfers in Manakin-Sabot, a pair of villages northwest of Richmond.
[From Gary’s website: “First-time and other inexperienced gun buyers may find Gary offering guidance and advice more readily than some other local gun dealers..Gary’s Guns & Transfers operates by appointment only from a residence in Manakin Sabot, but Gary and his crew are regulars at most Central Virginia gun shows.”
Dude sells semiautomatics from his apartment. Nice.]
Hand-written on the back of the card, the police said, were these words: “I just finished watching ‘The Last Dragon.’ I feel sorry for a cop if he think I’m getting into his paddy wagon.”
Apparently I’m getting more conservative as I get older, because, well, I just can’t get upset about this death. It’s a great example of the Broken Windows theory of policing; little crimes are connected to bigger ones. I’m just glad the cop wasn’t hurt.
11 Responses
12/10/2024 7:18 pm
Normally I’d agree, Richarde, but this bit bugs me:
“The sergeant confronted the men outside of 1515 Broadway, south of 45th Street, asking them for a tax stamp that would demonstrate that they had the right to sell CDs. One of the men ran north, then west on 45th Street and onto the driveway of the Marriott, toward 46th Street. The sergeant gave chase, ordered the man to stop. Instead, the man pulled out a gun. Shots were exchanged: the man fired two rounds, while sergeant fired four”
Did the cop have to chase, order a stop, for a tax stamp check?
12/10/2024 10:43 pm
I hear you, Anon, but one might just as easily ask why the guy had to run and then *pull out a semiautomatic weapon* over a tax stamp check.
12/11/2023 12:01 pm
I think the theory — initiated by Bratton when he was NYC chief of policy — is prosecute small crimes aggressively and you prevent big crimes. This might be a case in point.
12/11/2023 12:06 pm
i’ll bet the cop suspected all along that this guy had other issues, and that was confirmed by his taking flight.
12/11/2023 1:04 pm
Richard,
You know what they say, a conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged. Welcome to the dark side. Apparently you’ve lived in the liberal urban utopia long enough to see this stuff for what it is.
On the other hand, @ANON 7:18 is still harboring illusions that we just need to give these scumbags enough lattitude to express themselves or some other softheaded nonsense.
ANON, perhaps you didn’t read the story, but it says: “From inside his unmarked patrol car, the sergeant — in plain clothes — recognized the vendor.” In otherwords, this guy is a known scumbag to the cops, and as it turns out, the guy had been issued a summons for the same scam last year, was wanted for questioning in connection with an assault, and had an outstanding summons for failure to appear in court.
Moreover, even if they didn’t know this guy had priors, if they recognize the scam for what it is and the guy runs, you bet they need to go chase him down. If they don’t, he’ll be back scamming and menacing people out on the street. These guys are the squeegee men in different clothes, forcing some unsolicited product or service upon citizens passing through a public space with the implied threat of violence if they don’t pay up for thing they didn’t ask for in the first place. This indeed is the broken windows policing theory at work and we are all much better off for its vigorous prosecution.
12/11/2023 3:04 pm
That’s funny, I thought the saying went: “A Republican is a Democrat who’s never spent a night in jail.”
12/11/2023 7:57 pm
“he’ll be back scamming and menacing people out on the street. These guys are the squeegee men in different clothes, forcing some unsolicited product or service upon citizens passing through a public space with the implied threat of violence if they don’t pay up for thing they didn’t ask for in the first place.”
So … I can shoot nuns, phony Santas, and poor people, right? Ready on the right? Ready on the left? FIRE! Welcome to the dark side Rich.
12/12/2023 11:08 am
Welcome to the dark side? Please. I’m late weighing in, but I did have a couple thoughts.
First, liberals can be tough on crime. This alleged divide between liberals and conservatives is nonsense.
Second, the commenter who says that a guy who runs away from a cop shouldn’t be chased makes me laugh. Think about the implications of that.
Third, just as a general note, the guys who engage in this CD-blackmail are aggressive and threatening. I had it happen to me once and it was really unpleasant. I’m 6’3″ and over 200 pounds (a few more than I’d like to be, but there you are), and I’m used to NYC, and I found it intimidating. Imagine what a woman visiting from Duluth would feel. These are the new squeegee guys.
Fourth, apparently Gary Lewis didn’t sell this criminal the gun, and he says he doesn’t sell that type of weapon. So mea culpa there. Still, I don’t love the idea of a guy selling guns from his apartment and at traveling gun shows.
Fifth, the cop sounds like a gutsy guy. Hope he’s not too freaked out by all this.
12/12/2023 9:59 pm
anonymouse,
I have never been menaced by a nun - have you? Can’t say I’ve been menaced by a Santa either. Poor people, I suppose a good portion of the people that have menaced me for money have been poor, but I don’t like to generalize to wide swaths of the population.
If you can’t tell the difference between someone politely asking for a voluntary charitable donation and someone menacing you into parting with your money, then I don’t really know what to say to you other than good luck out there and be careful.
12/13/2009 12:45 pm
I’ve been menaced by a nun. Nuns aren’t saints. They are just women in uniforms
12/14/2009 12:45 pm
Conservative? This blog sounds like a call for national gun control. Why should one state’s weak laws be allowed to affect anothers?