by JEFF KEARNS
Two firefighters learned Friday that a crime in New York isn't always what it seems. The firefighters, heading to the Bronx to relieve colleagues at a fire, spotted one man stabbing another man on a Corona street. The two ran to the aid of the stabbing victim and held his attacker until police arrived. That's when they found out how bizarre the incident was. The assailant turned out to be German Centelles, 80, who apparently had been defending himself from being robbed by Roberto Ortiega, 35, police said. Centelles was later arrested and charged with second-degree assault, police said. Ortiega was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center and was in stable condition. He was charged with second-degree robbery in connection with the incident. Centelles was seen knifing Ortiega at 9:20 a.m. by Joseph Tarantini, 38, and Brian Pulsch, 30, who were driving to relieve other firefighters at the scene of the three-alarm fire in the Bronx. "We looked at each other and just said, 'Did you see what I saw?'" Tarantini recalled. Tarantini and Pulsch jumped out of Tarantini's van at National Street and 41st Avenue, a busy intersection of delis, stores and barbershops next to Linden Park to intervene. Tarantini a former corrections officer at Rikers Island, went after Centelles, while Pulsch, a certified first responder, tended to Ortiega's wounds. "He was losing a lot of blood," Pulsch said. "I actually went into a store and grabbed paper towels because we didn't have any equipment with us." He said Ortiega had stab wounds in his back and thighs. Centelles pocketed a bloody knife and initially ignored his orders to stop walking away, Tarantini said, but he then complied by laying face down on the sidewalk with his arms out. Tarantini then used his cell phone to call fire and police dispatchers. An engine from his firehouse arrived first, followed shortly by police. "It was a bit surreal, but we did what instinctively we do," Tarantini told reporters Friday afternoon at his firehouse in Corona, about four blocks from the stabbing scene. Tarantini is a nine-year veteran assigned to Ladder Co. 138. Pulsch joined the FDNY three years ago and was on a temporary assignment there from Engine Co. 324 in Corona. "They went way above and beyond what they have to do as firefighters," Division 14 Deputy Chief Mark Ferran said. "They did a great job."
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