How was it that less than 24 hours after he stabbed a passenger on the J-Church with a corkscrew, accused Muni stabber Bobby Brown — whose other crimes were committed on the eastern part of town — was nabbed by two Taraval Station police officers in the sleepy avenues, way out at 31st Avenue and Judah Street?
“A common sense and tactical” approach to searching for the guy, their station captain said on Tuesday. That, and — literally — sniffing Brown out.
Officers Maria Donati and Feliks Gasanyan received awards Tuesday from the Board of Supervisors for their swift detention of Brown, who was charged with four stabbings over the past several months, and all of whose victims were women or children. Like many other officers around the city, their “mission for the day” was finding and arresting Brown, so they crafted a plan to do just that:
–They looked up his prior incidents and where they occurred;
–They re-acquainted themselves with the composite sketch and his general description;
–Armed with that information, they patrolled with their squad car up and down Taraval and Judah streets, checking schools, and also checking spots where he likely may have entered or exited transit
–And then they stopped a dude wearing dirty clothes and a hoodie, who happened to be Brown.
“We came up Judah and saw the guy sitting on the sidewalk,” Gasanyan told a group of reporters Tuesday. “He matched the description and looked pretty much [identical] to the composite sketch, at which point we detained him.”
He didn’t resist much, submitting to the officers’ requests to detain him for the stabbings without a word.
Did he smell bad, too?
“He did,” Gasanyan said. Foiled by foul smells! But for Irish Spring could Brown be free?
Unlikely, Taraval station Captain Denise Schmitt said. “It wasn’t just his body odor, but what his clothing was and how it was worn. [The suspect descriptions] were very specific in that matter.”
Photo, left to right: Captain Denise Schmitt, Officers Maria Donati and Feliks Gasanyan
