Friday Crime Blotter: Gowanus Canal Body Ruled A Homicide, Daylight Home-Invasion In Brownsville & More

BROWNSVILLE – Off-duty NYPD officer Ernesto Marks, 37, was arrested last night around 1:45 am, police confirmed. He was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing.

GREENPOINT – Later that night, another off-duty cop was arrested, this time in North Brooklyn. Emel Lyndl Alegre, 34, was arrested around 2:00 am, and charged with assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, police confirmed.

DOWNTOWN – Yesterday, police were alerted to a body found under the BQE at Tillary Street.

The call came in around 11:00 am on Thursday, June 7, and police responded to the scene to find the severely decomposed body of a man lying facedown near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.

An investigation into the cause of death is underway and the medical examiner is working to determine a cause of death.

GOWANUS – In early April, a badly decomposed body was pulled from the Gowanus Canal near Nevins Street.

Yesterday, the NYPD announced that the medical examiner had determined that the body was indeed a victim of a homicide. However, the victim remains unidentified at this time.

BROWNSVILLE – Police are looking for two suspects who impersonated police officers and briefly kidnapped a man in a daring daylight home invasion last month.

The incident occurred around 7:30 am on Friday, May 25 at a residence near Amboy and Newport Streets in Brownsville. The two suspects grabbed a 58-year old man outside his residence and forcibly put him in the back of a gray van, where they used zip-ties to restrain their victim, said police.

Then, the robbers entered the residence, guns drawn, identifying themselves as police officers to the 20- and 14-year old male occupants of the home. Once inside, the thieves stole $7,000 cash, several pairs of sneakers and two cell phones, said police. During the robbery, one of the men pistol-whipped the 20-year old in the back of the head.

One of the suspects fled on foot while the other fled in a white SUV, said police. The 20-year old was treated for his injuries at the scene, said police, and the 14-year was uninjured.

Video surveillance of the suspects can be seen below:

Anyone with information in regard to any of these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).  The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All a calls are kept strictly confidential.