Councilman Barron Escapes Injury in Pile-Up

Councilman Charles Barron, who is a frequent lightning rod for controversy in New York's City Council, was involved in a five-car smash up in Brooklyn last night. The accident occurred in the councilman's district of East New York on Linden Boulevard and Van Siclen Avenue late last night as Barron was driving home. Barron's car was struck in a chain reaction started by an SUV striking a livery cab attempting to turn at an intersection. Barron is humorously quoted in the New York Post saying that he wasn't afraid because he has so much to live for: "I just braced myself and I said, 'I can't have anything happen to me because [Mayor] Bloomberg and [Council Speaker] Christine Quinn would miss me so." The former Black Panther has butted heads with Mayor Bloomberg over the unauthorized renaming of a Brooklyn street after radical Sonny Carson, and with Speaker Quinn over the dismissal of one of his staffers for making a perceived death threat against another council member.