POLICE BEAT

Wrong kind of rock on Valentine’s Day

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For many, Valentine’s Day calls to mind bland-tasting chocolate, wilting roses hawked at hiked-up prices, and maybe a bottle of headache-inducing bargain red wine.

But the first thing that should never come to mind is a rock, like the kind that might hit someone in the face.

An 18-year-old found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time around 11:30 p.m., on Sedgwick Avenue when a man reportedly walked up to him, declaring “you’re about to get (expletive) up.” He then smashed the guy in the face with a rock, police said, before fleeing in a white sedan.

Officers canvassed the area, but turned up nothing. There were cameras in the area, but cops aren’t sure if the attack was captured on video.

The teenager, who suffered a contusion on the left side of his face, told police the white getaway car may have been a Toyota, but he wasn’t sure. As for his assailant, he was around 40, wearing a black coat and blue jeans, and no one the young man knew personally, so far as he could tell. 

The assault is still under investigation.

 

Car OK, property not

The New York Police Department has warned people time and again not to leave valuables stashed in their cars.

A 27-year-old probably wishes he’d heeded that advice after reportedly discovering nearly $2,000 worth of items missing from his car the day before Valentine’s Day.

The man told cops he parked his red 2013 Honda sedan at the corner of Claflin Avenue and West 197th Street, but didn’t realize someone had gotten into his trunk until he returned around 1 that afternoon.

Gone were what police described as nine EMS sampling pumps valued around $1,620; nine stands worth $270; and a Husky bag valued at $80. 

Detectives are still looking into this grand larceny.

 

Wrong direction

There’s no way around it. Driving drunk is illegal in New York — and really anywhere — and refusing a chemical test can’t undo a mistake that’s already been made.

One 38-year-old man reportedly went wrong in more ways than one early Sunday morning, and it may have had something to do with an alcohol-soaked Saturday night. 

Cops reported spotting the guy cruising northbound in the southbound lane on Broadway between West 242nd Street and Manhattan College Parkway just before 3 a.m., on Feb. 18. They didn’t take long to pull him over, and were quick to notice his bloodshot eyes and a moderate smell of alcohol on his breath, according to a report.

Although the driver refused to submit to any chemical test — both on the scene, and later at the police station — cops said the physical signs, along with the fact the man was driving the wrong way, were enough to conclude he was intoxicated. Not only that, but his license was reportedly suspended.

The fellow was charged with driving while intoxicated, and driving with a suspended license.

 

Lock too strong

Two teenagers trying to pull off a break-in learned a tough lesson last Sunday — a proper heist requires tools that are up to the task.

The teens, 14 and 15 — described by police as dressed in all black — were spotted in front of a locked commercial establishment at 101 West Kingsbridge Road that appeared to be vacant at around 10:30 p.m., on Feb. 18. They reportedly used a pair of bolt cutters trying to cut through a padlock on a door. 

The bolt cutters proved no match for the lock, however, and police arrested the pair, charging them with attempted burglary. 

 

G’bye, Hyundai

It’s another car missing in an ongoing saga of thefts in this part of the Bronx.

This time it was a gold 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. Its 40-year-old owner told cops he’d last parked it on the 3000 block of Arlington Avenue around lunchtime Feb. 11. When he returned in time for dinner the following Saturday, the ride — valued by police at $5,000 — was gone.

The man didn’t have any outstanding parking tickets, police said, and there was no broken glass suggesting a break-in. Nor was the car towed.

The investigation is over, but police remain on the lookout for the Hyundai. 

Police Beat, Zak Kostro