Brooklyn
By Geoffrey Croft
A Bronx man was arrested for stalking a teenage girl while she tried out for her school’s tennis team, NYC Park Advocates has learned.
The assailant followed the fourteen-year-old girl for numerious blocks from the subway station to Fort Green Park on Tuesday morning where her local school was having tennis tryouts.
Along the way he waited for her outside a store where she purchased water for the tryouts.
Once inside the park he followed her in various directions. He made psst sounds in an effort to get her attention and stared at her. The defendant watched her and refused to leave the park after two requests.
At the courts the scared teen informed a coach who took photos of the man standing right up against the fence watching the young players. He confronted him asking what he was doing.
"I ain't doing nothing," he reportedly said.
The coach told the man that these were young girls and he shouldn't be following them. He asked him to leave the area but he refused.
The stalker then threatened the coach’s life.
“Coach you made a wrong move. Save a life, save your own,” he reportedly said.
The man sat down on several benches that overlook the courts and watched the girls play.
The coach told a parks maintenance worker that one of his students had been followed from the subway. The worker notified a supervisor.
Police arrived and initially let him go but upon further investigation arrested him.
Police arrested Vladimir Joseph, 32, a Bronx resident. He was charged with menacing, endangering the welfare (of a child less than 18), stalking, and harassment.
According to the criminal complaint, these actions caused the girl, “to fear physical injury and become alarmed and annoyed.”
He was arraignment at Brooklyn criminal court and released on his own recognizance.
The incident occurred within the confines the 88 pct.
Sources say the police have arrested several people over the last few years in that area of the park. Last July police arrested a person wanted for touching himself near the tennis courts after he returned for a forth time.
The hill overlooking the courts is a popular area for sunbathers.
No comments:
Post a Comment