After a prisoner reportedly hanged himself in his cell Sunday night at the 90th Precinct stationhouse using the drawstring from his shorts, an NYPD sergeant and an officer have been suspended. The prisoner, James Peterson, 46, had been arrested two hours earlier after allegedly punching and choking his girlfriend inside the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn. NYPD policy prohibits officers leaving prisoners unattended; they're also required to take away belts, shoelaces, and anything that could potentially be used for suicide. more ›

An unidentified man who was taken into police custody for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend was found hanging dead in his cell just before midnight last night. Police at the 90th precinct on Union Avenue in Williamsburg say he used the drawstring from his shorts to hang himself. According to Yeshiva News, numerous NYPD officials are one the scene, along with the NYPD Crime Scene Unit, the NYC Medical Examiner, and many media outlets are outside the station house awaiting more information. At this point, police will only say that the prisoner was a black male, age 47. But the Post nabbed a quote from one of his distraught relatives: more ›

This morning we received an email regarding another machete incident in South Williamsburg. The tipster wrote: "I witnessed a young man in handcuffs being pulled out the bodega near the corner of South 4th and Bedford at about 9:45 last night, the bodega next to Papa Lima sandwich shop. After he was placed into a police van, a police officer walked out of the bodega holding a machete. more ›

All has been silent on the stabby front in the South Side of Williamsburg. Metro now takes a look at the incidents, which have been going on since April of this year, and have often involved machetes (possibly wielded by the gang called Trinitarios). The paper reports that the 90th Precinct has "experienced the sharpest rise in crime since last year of any neighborhood in Brooklyn," coming in at 13.49% (as a comparison, the 94th precinct--which includes Williamsburg's North Side and Greenpoint--has seen a 6.38% rise in crime). City councilwoman Diana Reyna told Metro, “We don’t want to overstate the problem. But if we don’t do something, we’re going to have serious problems.” more ›