Report: Police continue investigation into death of Lesia Pupshaw; not treating the case as a homicide

On May 9, Bob Arihood reported that a young woman died, possibly from a wilding incident that occurred the night before in Tompkins Square Park. (Bob has had several follow-ups to this incident. If you haven't already, you may read the posts here... and here.)

In a cover story in this week's issue of The Villager, Lincoln Anderson further explores the case in the death of Lesia Pupshaw, who was 26. (That's Lesia in the photo.) There was speculation that she may have died from a drug overdose.

First, according to the article, the cause of her death has yet to be determined. Test results are pending.

An excerpt from Anderson's article:

[C]iting indications police received early on from the M.E., the Ninth Precinct’s commanding officer said police don’t believe Pupshaw’s death was a murder, and are proceeding accordingly.

"There is no evidence to support" that Pupshaw was killed, said Deputy Inspector Dennis De Quatro. "At this point, it’s not being investigated as a homicide, but as an assault."

But some of the Tompkins Square Park "crusties" . . . say Pupshaw’s head was badly injured in the attack and that police aren’t investigating as thoroughly as if the victim had been a "yuppie."

De Quatro, however, said making things more difficult, witnesses aren’t cooperating.

"There seems to be a reluctance on the part of those in the park to talk to us," the deputy inspector said. "They can come into the precinct” and tell police what they know," he said.

Anderson also interviews Melissa Bishop, who says that at one point she was a suspect in Pupshaw's death.

According to the article:

May 8 was Bishop’s birthday. She and Pupshaw weren’t on good terms because Bishop’s ex-boyfriend, Greg, had broken up with her to go out with Pupshaw. Bishop had been pregnant by Greg, but miscarried. Bishop has a tattoo on her forearm in memory of her lost baby.

"She didn’t like me because I was carrying [Greg’s child]," Bishop said of Pupshaw.

Bishop, 29, already has two children, 15 years old and 11 years old.

Pupshaw’s presence in the park on Bishop’s birthday was not welcome. The two had words.

Bishop said she cursed out Pupshaw, then turned on her heel and started to walk off. Immediately afterward, she said, she heard glass breaking. Turning back around, she said she saw Pupshaw getting up off the ground and heard her say, "Look at my eye. Look at my eye."

She also said that police weren't taking "Pupshaw’s death as seriously as if she was some yuppie-ass rich woman."

"Absurd" was De Quatro’s response to that accusation. "It’s our duty to investigate the assault. If you are assaulted today and you die in an automobile crash in New Jersey tomorrow, we still investigate. One’s got nothing to do with the other."

De Quatro also disputed accounts that a roving gang of local teens is responsible for the recent attacks in the neighborhood. "As for documented incidents, we have that one weekend back in the beginning of May involving this group," De Quatro told Anderson.

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The photo of Pupshaw is from Flickr. The urls to the photos were left by a friend in the comments of one of Bob's posts.

Runnin' Scared has more on last Saturday night's attack on Avenue B

Runnin' Scared has a follow-up story to Bob Arihood's post about a man attacked by up to a dozen young males last Saturday night along Avenue B near Seventh Street. Runnin' Scared describes the victim as a 30-year-old father of two who is a personal trainer and part-time wrestler. The man would only give his first name, Rob. According to his account as reported by Runnin' Scared:

Rob and his wife had come from their home in Brooklyn for a night in the East Village, and had relaxed with a pitcher of margaritas at a cafe across the street from Tompkins Square Park. When the cafe closed the couple headed out onto the street. As they argued over whether they would take a subway or a taxi, they heard a man say: "Why don't you come with us?" Turning around, Rob saw several young males ogling his wife."Mind your own business," he told them. A loud argument ensued, and more young males poured out of the park and surrounded the couple.

After the beating, Rob had a gash on the right side of his face and multiple fractures. But he declined the offer of police to ride with them to help look for his attackers. He says he didn't want to press charges, and figured he'd wait to get revenge later.

Rob has also apparently been leaving comments on Bob's post. Referring to himself as "guy in picture" (because Bob has a photo of him talking to the police)...

I realy onle remember the two main guys one had a razor scooter the other a 2x4 I laid the guy with the scooter out i figured the scooter would do more damage than the 2x4. i blocked like 6 shots from the 2x4 but then i had like 10 dudes swinging at me from behind then i got caught with the 2x4 and just started to block ,i covered up and went down to one knee. when i got up and saw blood i tried to find one so i could choke him to death i figured it was only moments before i would be stabbed anyway but they were all gone.

He says that he "took two of them down with me."