Man Wielding Bolt Cutter Attacks Kensington Neighbors At Ocean Parkway Apartment: Sources

A man threatened, taunted, and nearly busted through the front door of a Kensington building apartment last Saturday night, neighbors say.

And although the incident is disturbing, the victims are also very concerned about having to wait for over an hour for the police to arrive.

The incident took place on Saturday, February 4 at approximately 11:06pm, according to Aubrey Arcangel, a resident of 483 Ocean Parkway near Ditmas Avenue.

It all began when a man wielding bolt cutters threatened neighbor Katie Crank, who was returning to her apartment from The Castello Plan (1213 Cortelyou Road near Argyle Street), a nearby wine bar and restaurant.

Crank, who lives with her boyfriend Aubrey Arcangel at their 483 Ocean Parkway apartment, was at the front of the building when “the man spotted her from a distance and then asked if she lived in the building,” Arcangel told Brooklyn Pulp.

Crank told the man she did not live in the building. She says he then became frustrated, started yelling, and went to the side of the building to find a different entry point.

Arcangel explained that he was upstairs in their apartment and received a missed call from the downstairs intercom (his phone is linked to the ringer) and thought his girlfriend forgot her door card. “But I knew something was wrong when she called a few minutes later.” he said “When I came down and walked outside, she came running towards me. The guy was yelling and he was holding bolt cutters.”

However, the couple was able to get past him and into the lobby. “He was trying to elbow his way inside door and was yelling at us,” said Arcangel. “But I was able to hold back the door.”

While the couple got away without injury, Arcangel was unhappy with the police response to the incident. “I called 911, and it took the cops one hour and three minutes to come,” he said. “I made sure I gave them the correct address and all of the information.”

The cops did call the couple at their apartment about 30 minutes later. “They said that a guy has been seen in a gray hoodie.” explained Arcangel. “And the cop seemed unclear if he had the correct apartment address. When I repeated it to him, he said ‘four-EIGHT-three’ – like he may have gotten the 8 wrong in the address.”

According to Arcangel, the cops who arrived didn’t fill out a police report. “The responding officers showed up to our door, asked what happened, then said they’d check it out,” he said. “No additional instructions were made. No paper filled out. ”

As of Monday morning, cops say they do not have a record of the incident taking place, although a spokesperson said it may not have been put into their system as of yet.

On Sunday morning, the super of the building showed Arcangel surveillance video of the incident. “The guy with the bolt cutters was the one who buzzed me that first time,” he said. “He was buzzing different apartments trying to get into the building.”

In addition, the super caught a man on surveillance video from Friday, January 27. “He looks like he’s smoking a crack pipe inside the lobby vestibule,” Arcangel said. “He could be the same guy.”

The couple is concerned that the police have not followed up enough about the incident.

“This isn’t the first time the 66 [the 66 Police Precinct] let us down,” he said. “This summer, a guy outside our building threatened to shoot me and my dog. As far as I know, nobody was caught.” That incident took place in July 2016.

Arcangel said that although the responding officers spoke to the suspect in the summer incident, “he wasn’t searched for a weapon or detained. They took down his info and he left. I was told since there was no one else to corroborate my story, and the officer ‘didn’t see a bulge’ in his pockets or waist, there was no need to search and there needed to be three reports of harassment before an arrest is made.”

Arcangel, who is an army veteran and feels confident defending himself, says he is more concerned for his neighbors as well as continued crime in the neighborhood. “People need to know that they have to be responsible for their personal safety because police are not going to be there for you,” Arcangel said. “I’m really upset … more upset about the police response than the incident itself.”

A police spokesperson did confirm a separate incident in the same building took place on Tuesday, January 10. Cops arrested 27-year-old Demetriy Kolker for criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree and marijuana possession in the fifth degree.

We will update you with further information when it becomes available.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting your tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Police say all calls are confidential.