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I left my building today, 233 East 9th Street, around 2 p.m. to run errands and I bumped into a man on my stoop. He said to me "take a hot shower, then take a cold shower, then take a hot shower." I didn't think anything of it other than he was just a kook — our stoop is always used by eccentric people waiting for the bus — and I went to run my errands.
When I came back about 20 minutes later, he followed me into the vestibule, then attempted to follow me into the lobby. I thought he might be a left-of-center fill-in for my Super over the holiday weekend. I asked him who he was and he said "the landlord."
I knew he wasn't and told him I was going to call the police if he didn't allow me to close the door to keep him out. He started rambling on about how I could obtain American citizenship by going to the consulate and filling out a form. Not wanting to break the door, I went to my apartment and called the Super, the MGMT company and 911. While I did this, he proceeded to drag ALL of the bagged garbage on the curb into our building, leaving it all over the lobby.
Waiting for the police, I saw him from my fire escape running over on 9th then taking a right on Second Ave, heading south. The police arrived shortly after and I gave them the details and a description.
Tonight around 5 p.m., I heard a commotion in the hallway. Police were canvasing the building. The guy got back into the building and was trying to break into apartments. The police didn't find him on their search.
Description
white male
5' 10 - 5' -11
early 50s
thin build
longish gray hair
hunter green suede coat
light colored jeans
silver traveling luggage
He is pretty fearless and determined to keep going about his business despite the intervention of me and my neighbors. He's obviously hanging out in the neighborhood and if he's doing this to our building, he may have tried this elsewhere.
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That's pretty nuts. Good thing to call 911 on kooks like this. I live right around the corner and since you didn't mention it I'm wondering is he white/african american/hispanic/asian? You give a fairly detailed description but are leaving out such a vital piece of information. Are we so PC now that we can't even accurately describe criminals to help catch them?
ReplyDeleteI asked the reader... and added that the suspect is a white male...
ReplyDeleteHe's white and it's an accidental omission on my part. He has a very thin, angular face. Perhaps eastern european. He can't pass for normal when speaking as all he can discuss is the shower or the visiting the consulate.
ReplyDeleteScary. Thanks for the warning.
ReplyDeleteI wish the people in my building were this aware of their surroundings. The fraternity on the third floor leaves our front door open half the time and they're always letting strangers in. Thank you for the warning.
ReplyDeleteI think he ended up at my job afterwards. A man was bothering customers at my job and then was spotted trying to open various locked doors. He had a silver suitcase. When the police came they said "if you see him let us know- we have been looking for him for break-ins and stealing from local businesses" Thanks to the poster for the info.
ReplyDeleteSend him to my house...I'll introduce him to baseball. He'll be the ball.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. My clueless collegiate neighbors keep leaving the front door of our building open too. They don't realize they're not in Scarsdale any more...
ReplyDelete