A distraught Harlem man with a long and violent rap sheet is in custody after he pulled a 9-inch knife during a “suicide-by-cop” attempt with three PAPD officers near the World Trade Center, sources said.
The explosive episode ended when one of the cops, PAPD Officer Angel Serrano, used his flashlight to knock the 9-inch knife from the hand of suspect, Richard G. Eugeia, 33.
Eugeia then surrendered.
“He immediately became compliant and put his hands behind his back to be arrested,” marveled one source.
The frightening confrontation began at about 7 a.m. Tuesday when the three PAPD cops were summoned to a WTC PATH train station walkway, near 60 Church Street, by a report of screaming man who was acting irrationally.
When the three PAPD cops showed up, they were greeted by Eugeia who began yelling at them: “I want to die tonight!”
Eugeia then grew increasingly combative, sources say.
“I want to stab your neck and hear you choke on your blood! I want to decapitate your head!” he yelled at the three cops.
As the officers sought to calm him and get between him and a surging throng of rush-hour commuters, he allegedly taunted the cops by screaming, “Shoot me! Shoot me! Do it! Come on, do it!”
One of the officers tried to defuse the tense situation by asking Eugeia to produce his ID.
“Yeah, I’ll give you my ID! I got it right here!” Eugeia blurted out.
He then allegedly reached into a book bag he was carrying to grab for a black-handled kitchen knife, but Officer Serrano, who was standing behind Eugeia, caught sight of the weapon and used his flashlight to knock it to the ground.
Serrano was booked on a charge of weapons possession and held on $ 20,000 bail.
Sources said Serrano has a 27-page rap sheet, including at least 18 arrests, including six for violent felonies, dating back to August 1997.
His past criminal history, including one prior assault on a police officer, raised disturbing questions about why he was roaming free the streets in the first place, sources said.
He was most recently arrested on an assault charge in Manhattan on Sept. 2 by NYPD Transit cops, although details of that case, including why he was released, weren’t immediately available.
Two weeks ago, he was picked up PAPD cops as a psychiatric patient for acting bizarrely and taken Bellevue Hospital where he was later released, sources said.
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
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