‘Broken windows’ policing doesn’t work…
Via Daily Mail:
A New York man suspected of murder was caught after he spat on a subway platform Thursday night.
Transit officers who were patrolling the Stillwell Avenue subway station in Coney Island were suspicious of Euzebelin Abellard after they realized he resembled the photo of a man wanted for murder, the New York Post reported.
The officers looked at the wanted poster on their new department-issued smartphones and realized that the photo of the suspect was truly an uncanny resemblance to the Abellard who was standing nearby.
However, once Abellard, 32, spat on the Q train platform, officers moved in to arrest him.
According to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) website, spitting is a violation to their rules of conduct.
Officers conducted a background check and their hunch was confirmed – he was indeed the man being sought as a suspect in the murder of Crown Heights resident Jean-Claude Bernagene, 51, during a botched robbery shooting at an illegal gambling operation.
Bernagene was found lying in the front yard of 1051 New York Avenue with several gunshot wounds by police. He died later at Kings County Hospital.
According to the New York Daily News, police suspected that the gunman ‘may have been attempting to rob Bernagene of proceeds from his illegal operation, which included take bets on policy numbers, the game in which people wager money on three numbers, usually the last three digits in a racetrack’s daily handle.’