14 DAY TRIAL // Let it not be said that David Schwimmer, aka Ross from the hit sitcom “Friends,” is not a nice guy. The actor proved essential in the solving of a stabbing case that took place in New York City's East Village, when he provided police officers with video footage from one of his surveillance cameras that helped determine exactly how the incident occurred.
The NY Post reports that the video that Schwimmer provided proved essential in clearing the case in the incident of an early-morning drunken fight among three men. As the police describe it, the fight started around 5 o'clock in the morning, in the first-floor apartment of a building on East Sixth Street, that is right next to Schwimmer's townhouse.
The fight continued in the lobby of the building and ended up on the street, as the three men crashed through the glass lobby door and spilled on the pavement. The three men involved in the knifing are a male prostitute, his john, and a third male combatant.
The john was a 26-year-old man and he was taken to Bellevue Hospital with stab wounds to the face. His attacker fled the scene before cops arrived, leaving the third man to be arrested. Later, the police would identify him as 21-year-old Robert Rainey, from Newark, and charge him with criminal possession of a weapon, assault and robbery.
Were it not for the video footage provided by the actor, the police would have had to go on only two statements from eyewitnesses who heard one man shout “He sliced me up!” As it happened, the actor's adjoining property had cameras in plain sight and the police came knocking on his door.
He showed them the footage they wanted and let them keep a copy that is going to be used as evidence in court.
The irony here is that with this act, Schwimmer has redeemed himself in front of the community. The actor caused some stir on his block when he underwent significant renovations to his multi-million townhouse that annoyed the neighbors with the dust and noise.
“Four years ago, I would say David Schwimmer was the least popular guy on the block with the construction and all,” said one of the neighbors, also adding that in the process “he has turned out to be a decent neighbor, and I am glad to hear he helped the cops with that stabbing.”