Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Suspect in brick attack went unrecognized by NYC police

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Thursday, December 2, 1999

Suspect in brick attack went unrecognized by NYC police
Man arrested a few days after attack for a drug charge was released, picked up after telling cellmate about crime
By Donna De La Cruz
Associated Press

NEW YORK - When Paris Drake was finally charged late Tuesday night as the alleged brick attacker, it was not his first run-in with the law. Just days after Nicole Barrett was brutalized in broad daylight on a busy street, Drake was picked up on a drug charge - then let go because investigators didn't notice he matched their widely circulated sketch.
   They tracked him down again after hearing that Drake had boasted of the crime while in jail; a lawyer who witnessed the Nov. 16 attack identified him in a lineup.
   Barrett's condition has improved dramatically despite her brain injury. The Texas native is walking and talking, and her family has told her what happened but she does not remember the attack, said her mother, Sharon Barrett. The 27-year-old was returning to her office after getting a haircut when she was struck from behind with a 6-pound paving stone at 42nd Street and Madison Avenue.
   Police immediately began searching for the suspect, dispatching 60 detectives to work full time on the case. A police sketch was circulated citywide, but when Drake was arrested in Harlem on Nov. 23 on drug possession charges, no one noticed his uncanny resemblance to the sketch.
   Drake, 32, went unnoticed at central booking and at his court appearance as well. But during his subsequent three-day stay at Rikers Island, he allegedly told another inmate he had committed the attack, police sources have said. Drake allegedly said he had been panhandling that day and was upset over how little money he got, so he threw the stone that struck Barrett.
   The inmate told the story to police the day after Thanksgiving, but Drake had been released. It took cops three days to locate him near the Port Authority Terminal, where Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Drake had been living. But a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Drake lives with his girlfriend and other friends - not on the streets.
   Drake was arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and criminal possession of a deadly weapon.

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]