Queens
***
The man in this picture and an alleged accomplice are being sought for questioning in connection with a rash of violent cellphone robberies in Astoria, police sources said.
The suspects first struck at about 6:30 p.m. on May 3 on 11th Street near 40th Avenue, belting a 39-year-old man in the face and taking his wallet and iPhone, the sources said.
Then, at about 4:45 p.m. on May 10 on 13th Street near 40th Avenue, they allegedly jumped a 46-year-old man chatting on his cell, punching him in the face, grabbing the phone and running off.
In the most recent mugging, they approached a man at about 6:45 a.m. on May 31 at 40th Avenue and 9th Street, knocked him to the ground, pummeled him about the face and body, tore open one of his pants pockets and snatched his phone, cops said.
Both of the suspects are believed to be in their 20s, cops added.
The Bronx
***
The NYPD is asking for the public’s help in locating the man pictured above, who is wanted for the sexual assault of a Bx18 bus driver in the Highbridge/Mount Eden section.
The creep is described as a black male in his 30s, about 5-foot-7 and 180 pounds with a scar under his left eye.
He boarded the bus at about 3:30 p.m. on May 15, started up a conversation with the driver and then sexually assaulted her, cops said.
Surveillance cameras captured his image as he fled the bus at Undercliff Avenue and 171st street while talking on a cellphone.
***
He was almost home.
Alfonso Melendez, 50, was standing in the crosswalk on East 184th Street and the Grand Concourse at about 11:15 p.m. Thursday when a hit-and-run black minivan blew a red light and fatally rammed him, cops said.
EMTs rushed Melendez to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died of head trauma.
The intersection where he was killed was one block from his Fordham Heights residence.
The driver fled the scene and was being sought last night, investigators said.
Brooklyn
***
A regular customer who had been booted from a Williamsburg restaurant returned and took his anger out on an employee by smashing him on the head with a beer bottle, law-enforcement sources said.
Luis Julia, 40, was asked to leave La Vega, on Lorimer Street near Grand Street, shortly before 5:20 p.m. on May 31, the sources said.
He allegedly went on the attack a while later when the worker stepped out to use an ATM.
The victim suffered a black eye and bruises to the face, said the sources, and members of the Warrant Squad tracked Julia down at his job in Bushwick and arrested him on Tuesday, law-enforcement sources said.
He was charged with assault, weapon possession, menacing and harassment, the sources added.
***
A woman leaving the Atlantic Center Mall, on Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Heights, had to stop at a nearby hospital after a stranger with an umbrella and some apparently unresolved issues left her bleeding from the head, authorities said.
The alleged assailant, Bernice Lewis, 35, asked the woman why she was looking at her at about 9:30 a.m. last Saturday, then suddenly demanded money, sources said.
When the woman refused to hand over money or valuables, Lewis allegedly struck her in the face with the umbrella and ran off.
The victim suffered a bruised eye and a cut to the head.
Responding officers scoured the area and collared Lewis not far from the scene, the sources reported.
She was charged with assault, two counts of menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment, according to a Criminal Court complaint.
Staten Island
***
The man pictured here is wanted for questioning in the burglaries of six homes in St. George and Stapleton, police said.
Shaquan Williams, 23, is suspected most recently of breaking into a Corson Avenue house on May 23, but investigators believe his spree started on April 29.
The suspected serial burglar typically gains entry through a rear window or forces open the front door.