A Queens man suffered a one-two punch when a homeless shelter resident struck him in the face — then cops refused to put key details of the assault in their report and closed the investigation in one day, the Daily News has learned.
Edward Karakash, 29, said the man called him a “cracker” and slugged him outside of the Queens Blvd. car repair shop where he works, on Dec. 18.
The auto shop near 54th St. in Sunnyside is adjacent to a Quality Inn which the city has converted into a homeless shelter.
“A laundry van for the hotel was blocking my driveway and I was honking the horn,” he said. “A guy comes out of the hotel with a friend and starts threatening me. He said, ‘I’m gonna knock you out, cracker!’ Then he punched me in the temple.”
The suspect ran into the hotel. Karakash went to the hospital where he was treated for bruises after telling cops what happened.
His mother, Karine Karakash, 50, an eyewitness to the attack, said doctors initially believed he had broken bones in his face.
Unbeknownst to Karakash, cops closed their investigation the same day even though he gave them a photograph of the perpetrator, video of the assault and told police where his attacker lived.
The complaint report claims wrongly that Karakash refused to give his contact information and says there were no witnesses.
“They did not put on the report that he was from the homeless shelter,” Karakash said. “They just put that it was a random person who ran away.”
It was only when community activist Bill Kregler, a former Republican candidate for Queens Borough President, got involved that the cops changed their tune.
Karakash said the neighborhood has had problems with shelter residents before. Back on Oct. 14, someone else from the shelter hit him with his car and the police refused to take a report.
“I got hit while I was taking a picture of the plate,” he said. “The police said they weren't going to take a report.”
Years ago when similar problems were happening near the Pan Am, this blog reported that crime in the area was increasing and that police were not taking reports. They publicly denied this and several of the reporters covering the situation claimed we were lying. It's clear who was telling the truth and who is full of crap, now, isn't it?
