Two Men Arrested On Cortelyou After Refusing To Pay Cab Fare, Punching Driver In The Face: NYPD
After several neighbors let us know of a large commotion involving arrests at Cortelyou Road and Stratford Saturday afternoon, we spoke to Detective Dominick Scotto from the 70th Precinct last night, who told us police nabbed two men after they refused to pay a livery cab driver and then physically assaulted him.
The cab driver picked up the two men in the Bronx, but once they arrived on Cortelyou around 4pm, they said they wouldn’t pay, “got into a verbal dispute with the driver, punched him in the face, and then ran,” Scotto said.
Because additional officers have been assigned to the area following a series of armed robberies in our neighborhood, Scotto said there was immediately a large presence of police who responded to the situation.
“They caught them and arrested them for assault and theft of service,” said Scotto, who emphasized that the individuals were not arrested for robbery and had nothing to do with the armed robberies in the area, as a couple neighbors had surmised.
Related to the robberies, however, Scotto said that business owners are encouraged to call the precinct to have the crime prevention officer come to their site and help them with security measures, including how to position surveillance cameras. You can reach the crime prevention officer by calling (718) 851-5506. You can also call the precinct’s community affairs unit at (718) 851-5557, or email them at 70PCTCommunityAffairs@nypd.org.
