Leftover Metrocard Change Infuriates Some
UPDATE: City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave.
Hamster Rides The 4 Train
2nd Avenue Subway Cooling System Will "Blight" UES
Should Payphones Be Free?
Sergeant James Rector had just left work at a police recruiting office near the Walt Whitman Houses in Fort Greene when he saw a teenager pointing a gun execution-style at a man on the street. Rector yelled for 17 year old Eric Hines to stop and identified himself as a police officer, but Hines shot him twice. Rector, while hit in the ankle and butt, managed to shoot 11 rounds at Hines, hitting him in the leg and on the right side. Rector is recovering from his wounds while Hines died from his injuries. Hines's initial target was treated for a shot in the leg and was also questioned by police.
Rector was able to tell police that Hines was not acting alone; someone took Hines's 40 caliber gun into the housing project while another armed man left the scene in a car. Later on, a gun magazine and bags of crack were tossed out a window of the housing project, and the police took five people into custody. The NY Times reports City Councilwoman Letitia James as saying, "It was a drug turf war. It's all too common here," while one resident told the Daily News:
"One guy was from Walt Whitman, and the other was from the Ingersoll Houses [across the street]. One carries a gun, the other carries a gun, both of them have a beef and this is what happens."Police Commissioner Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg praised Rector's quick thinking and fortune. The Mayor also added, “Commissioner Kelly and I are sick and tired of being called to hospitals for illegal gun violence.”
Hines's father told reporters that he didn't know anything, lamenting, "My baby's gone. My baby's gone, man."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I live a few blocks from this incident, and we went to our roof last night to watch the helicopters and police cars arrive at the scene. I have never seen so many police vehicles at one location - we assumed an officer must have been shot just by the sheer volume of police response.
Our prayers are with the families of all those involved.
Glad the cop is alive and well and that he got the perp.
Legalize drugs and this wouldn't happen.
Plow under the projects and it would not happen
Uh, legalize drugs... whatever. I guess you're working on the worthless assumption that other stuff that's legal, like cars, women, jackets, do-rags, etc. never are reasons for people to shoot/stab each other.
HAHA, plow the projects.
don't you wish you could do that???? too late, you mofos. We are too entrenched in NYC, we won't be leaving Brooklyn any time soon.
You might as well start over with a Nuke before you can even think about plowing the projects.
We got red hook, the LES, Astoria, we're everywhere.
ft. greener that is a very stupid and ignorant comment. so you would just have thousands of people desperately wandering the streets then?
Get rid of Queensbridge and Astoria houses and give the beautiful waterfront property to people who will actually appreciate and deserve it.
"Rector, while hit in the ankle and butt,"
.. butt?
is this a 6 year old reporting on the death of a NYC officer?
i mean shooting, not death, but the point remains the same.
Projects are nothing but problems..
just housing for weirdos.
Projects are nothing but problems for the sane people.
It's just housing for weirdos.
how weird is it that this incredibly rough project is named after a screaming queen poet? i wonder how many people who live there know who walt whitman is? i wonder how many people think it's the same guy as the candy?
Walt was a white poet. The irony is as thick as pea soup
""Rector, while hit in the ankle and butt,"
.. butt?
is this a 6 year old reporting on the death of a NYC officer?"
I thought the same exact thing. Fortunately, though, the officer is alive.
i've lived across from the Whitmans since December on Cumberland. (by the way, on the irony note, yeah, i'd say so: not exactly what walt was thinking when he wrote LEAVES OF GRASS). everything out of the perimeter of the projects - across the BQE, east of Carlton, etc - is actually a pretty nice neighborhood. to not think of the projects as a cause of crime in the neighborhood defies logic: it's a boilerplate with a one-way valve going in. the streets around the whitmans are always trashed, people walking through the park often hassled (it's happened to me), and it really kills whatever community feel could be there. fyi, however: they are turning the whitman houses into co-op housing by offering residents stiepends and moves to other, nicer housing projects (like billyburg's).
Guns, drugs and war. I've got to love the dead teenager's grandma reaction:
“He was a young, typical teenager. Who doesn’t have enemies? He was a good kid".
I must have been a very atypical teenager. Never had a gun, never shot anyone...
If you guys want to learn about how projects come to be and the cultures that develop within them, there is a really good book called "There are no children here" by Alex Kotlowitz.
Some of you could use the enlightnment, but he did a lot of reasearch and the book contains very specific historical data about the planning and construction and the best insight into why the 'problems' and 'weirdos' exist.
Not all cops are dicks. His family will be in my thoughts.
Guns, drugs and war. I've got to love the dead teenager's grandma reaction:
“He was a young, typical teenager. Who doesn’t have enemies? He was a good kid".
I must have been a very atypical teenager. Never had a gun, never shot anyone...