Report On Disturbing Attack On Court Street

Over the week-end, I got two disturbing emails in my inbox. The first one is from Reader J. who wrote to let me know that she and her friend were attached on Court Street today. She writes:

On Court Street, Saturday at around 3:30 PM, in front of Papel (Warren & Court) a teenager attacked three people (one of them, a friend of mine whose nose was broken in the melee), for no apparent reason. He got into an altercation with a man on a bicycle and this some how escalated into him attacking a man standing in the doorway of Papel and then rushing at me when I screamed that I was calling the police. Long story short, he got away down Warren Street towards Smith
If your readers have any more information about him or his whereabouts, we'd appreciate it. We'd like to press charges. He was probably 15-16 years old, 5'6"(ish), slim build, with dark curly shoulder length hair, possibly Latino, dark/navy backpack, blue jeans, sneakers, black baseball hat.
Also, just in case--the man who was attacked in Papel was apparently picking out his wedding invitations with his bride-to-be, if you post this and they see this I wish them the best of luck and I hope they have a very happy wedding! At least it will be memorable...

The police were called and a report was filed.  If anyone witnessed the incident or saw the attacher on either Court or Smith Street, please contact the 76th Precinct (718 834 3211.) You can also send me an email at pardonmeinbrooklyn at gmail dot com and I will forward it to J.

The second incident happened on Friday afternoon at 4:30 Pm. Luckily, no one got hurt in this particular one, but it is notable for the lack of response and 'no show" from the 76th Precinct even after two calls to 911.
This is how Reader M described what happened:

A. and I were on Court Street, Friday 4th May 2012 around 4:30pm, when a mob of school kids 12 to 14 years old, rushed pass us and tossed a knapsack by the doorway of 396 Court. Presuming that the backpack had been stolen, A. and I tried to be good samaritans and called the 76th precinct only to get a recording. We then called 911 and were told a car will be there.
20 minutes later we saw a police car come down Court and A. waved them down. They stopped at the far corner down the street and Anna walked over and told them about the bag. They told her they were responding to another call and a different car will be coming soon. Another 15 minutes, not a single police car came.As our backs were turned, another group of kids came by. One young man proceeds to take the bag. When we tried to stop him and told him we had called the police, his entourage threateningly gestured at us to stop bothering them. They then ran off through the park down toward Smith. Totally shocked, we called 911 again and waited and waited and waited.
Anna G and I left the scene after waiting another 20 minutes. I went home to call the 76th Precinct to report the incident only to get a recording. I tried to connect with the Community Affair rep only to hear five rings and then disconnected....no operator...no one!Around 6:05pm, I got a call from what sounded like a bored and intimidating female officer, only to get disconnected when I started asking why it took so long to respond. Is this how our police force should act? Are we really safe?

Granted, this was not an emergency, but this should have prompted some kind of response from our precinct. After all, New Yorkers are reminded regularly about reporting unattended bags. 

It does seem rather astonishing that it was impossible to connect to anyone at the 76th Precinct on a Friday afternoon.