By Jeremy Walsh
Four men were locked up last week after an assault with a wooden board in Ridgewood last week, police and the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Around 5:20 p.m. last Thursday, in front of a hardware store at 54−33 Metropolitan Avenue, two men chased a 19−year−old man, police and the DA’s office said. When they caught up to him, one bashed him in the eye with a 2−by−4 board and the other began punching and kicking him, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA’s office.
An officer nearby saw the two men jump into a Volkswagen driven by a third man and drive away, the complaint said.
When police pulled the car over, one of the alleged assailants jumped out and fled, the complaint said. The other alleged assailant, Armando Hurtabo, 26, of Brooklyn, and the driver, Hadrian Narine, 28, of Hollis, were arrested and charged with assault, weapons possession and harassment.
A police source said the suspect who jumped out of the car was later arrested, but the charges were dropped.
Hurtabo was arraigned Saturday and released without bail. Narine was arraigned Sunday and also released without bail. Both are due back in court May 19. If convicted, they face up to a year in jail.
Police also arrested the assault victim on suspicion of assault and criminal mischief for breaking a window, but the DA’s office had no record of a criminal complaint against him.
An employee at the hardware store who said he was working last Thursday said he did not witness the incident.
The Police Department does not keep track of misdemeanor assaults as part of its listing of major index crimes, but the number of felony assaults in the 104th Precinct have dropped 19 percent for the year through March 29, with 25 in 2009 compared with 31 for the same stretch of 2008.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
