Results tagged “cops”

In late September, two black detectives and one Pakistani detective were going door-to-door in Gravesend, Brooklyn, canvassing residents to investigate a possible hate crime. They were dressed in suits, not uniforms, and not one of them is white, so naturally someone assumed they must be pretending to be police officers. The Shomrim Jewish Community patrol raced to the scene, and 911 was called. When the detectives heard the call over the radio they identified themselves to the dispatcher, but a fight almost broke out when local cops arrived.

The mother of a 6-year-old Queens boy is outraged at police for what she's calling a slow response time to her son's disappearance yesterday. Shortly before 3 p.m., the boy was in the courtyard at P.S. 80 at dismissal time and managed to walk through the gate without anyone stopping him. He wandered Jamaica, traveling four miles from the school before finally being located at his father's Rockaway Boulevard office—two hours after he was found missing. And that's also when police finally showed up!

A few hours ago, police locked down East 14th Street and Union Square East, due to some "suspicious packages." (Not surprising, especially given the alleged recent terror plot.) Before the packages were eventually "cleared" by the cops, some folks Twittered about the incident:

The NYPD inspector who showed photos of "persons of interest" to a Flushing imam has been transferred to another department, the Times reports today. The imam allegedly later informed the suspects that they were being watched.

The real New York Post (not the far superior, global warming hoax edition) is reporting that the NYPD has cracked down on illegal bike rental vendors. Apparently, you need to be licensed to rent out bicycles, but some illicit pedal pushers have been running their businesses from the sidewalks around Central Park.

Sure, cops have been known to park in bike lanes like everybody else, but this is ridiculous! Or perhaps it's serving some vital public safety emergency? We don't know; a reader just sent us this photo taken today from the Manhattan Bridge, looking down on the recently installed bike lanes on Allen Street. He adds, "I've never seen cops parked down there at all, especially not in the bike lanes."

The man whom cops allegedly sodomized in a Brooklyn subway station last October says police are still on his tail. 24-year-old Michael Mineo claims he was innocently relaxing on a bench in a Canarsie playground Monday night when two squad cars arrived and arrested him. "I wasn't doing nothing," Mineo tells the Daily News. "I was just sitting on the park bench talking to a friend. They knew who I was. Of course they did." Mineo is suing the city for $220 million over the alleged sodomy, and three officers are under indictment. But the cops who arrested Mineo Monday are from a different precinct, and police spokesman Paul Brown insists that they only arrested Mineo after he refused to leave and they discovered a warrant for his arrest. Mineo's lawyer Stephen Jackson says the warrant popped because Mineo mixed up the dates on a court appearance last week and failed to certify completion of community service for a prior assault arrest. Jackson agrees that cops are targeting Mineo, telling the News, "Of course they knew who he was. I think two squad cars shows premeditation."

Nancy Reagan was right about pot making you dumb or whatever; three geniuses on Staten Island were busted Sunday afternoon when police discovered a large marijuana plant on their table in the living room and 15 more on a rear deck. How were police alerted to the stash? One of the roommates, 53-year-old Scott Ortega, summoned them there! Apparently the three were involved with some sort of landlord-tenant dispute, and Ortega called 911 to report a possible burglary. According to court papers obtained by the Staten Island Advance, police confiscated the plants and returned Monday with a warrant, finding three Xanax pills on a bedroom dresser, 11 joints a drawer, 15 partially-smoked joints on a TV stand, and several smaller bags of reefer. According to the Post, Ortega allegedly told cops the marijuana was just for his personal use, so it's all good, right? All three men face charges of criminal possession of marijuana, criminal possession of a controlled substance and "criminally using drug paraphernalia." Previously on stupid stoner tricks: Personally escorting cops to your pot house, and smoking herb while speeding in a car full of "bales" of marijuana.

It couldn't have been scripted better: A cute receptionist helps catch a career criminal—thanks to her deep love for Law & Order: SVU—and then appears on the Today Show and gets props from Detective Olivia Benson herself!

As the classic song goes, 911 is a joke—but calling police precincts is even more of a laugh, according a little survey conducted by the Daily News. Over the course of a month, reporters called all 76 neighborhood precinct stationhouses across the city at least seven times and found that many of them need to work on their telephone manners. The tabloid gave 40% of them a ranking of "unacceptable" because nobody picked up within 10 rings on at least five out of seven calls. At one Bronx stationhouse, a uniformed officer twice picked up the phone and immediately hung it up after a reporter called from the waiting area. At the 104th Precinct stationhouse in Ridgewood, Queens, when a reporter asked to be transferred to Community Affairs, the phone rang 175 times before the caller finally gave up. And on two occasions at the 66th Precinct, the stationhouse's phone rang at least 50 times—then went to a busy signal. One anonymous cop explains that officers simply dread answering the phone, because "if you pick up the phone you are stuck with whatever ... is coming out of the receiver." NYPD commissioner Paul Browne says New Yorkers should just call 911 during emergencies.

New York - which had applied for upward of 800 cops under the program but had expected to receive money for about 200 - has neither, so it's being passed over."

Joseph Pabon, 26, of Staten Island, has not been charged or even called a suspect in the slaying of 46-year-old Eridania Rodriguez, whose bound body was found stuffed in an air duct Saturday in the Financial District building where she worked as a cleaning woman. But plainclothes cops are still tailing him 24 hours a day, and so is the press. With no new developments in the investigation to report, the Post has been digging into Pabon's past, and today the tabloid airs some dirty laundry on the elevator operator's family.

262 new cops, poised to graduate and start policing on July 2nd, gathered at Harlem's Apollo Theater yesterday for training on cross-cultural understanding, or, as Police Commissioner Ray Kelly puts it, "immersion training." For some rookies, it probably doesn't get more immersive than a visit from Rev. Al Sharpton, who was on hand to warn officers that "in most of our communities there's a tremendous fear of the cops and the robbers seem to be winning." But Sharpton's best sound bite came after the gathering, when he told reporters, "To me, it's always successful to be in a room full of police and not leave with my hands in cuffs." Yesterday marked the fourth and final day of mandatory diversity training, which was initiated after Sean Bell was shot and killed by plainclothes police officers in 2006; the sessions also come in the wake of the fatal cop-on-cop shooting in Harlem last month. The NYPD has been criticized for conducting a record-breaking number of stop-and-frisk searches this year, which groups like the NYCLU say disproportionately target minorities. Oh, and critics have also objected to the sodomy.

Hundreds of NYPD officers accustomed to pushing papers, not thugs, are being ordered out from behind their desks to walk a beat in New York's toughest and busiest neighborhoods. Starting tomorrow in each of the 76 police precincts, roughly six to 10 administrative cops must report every Friday to their borough commander for reassignment to a patrol in need. That could mean walking a beat anywhere from Times Square to high-crime Brownsville. An NYPD spokesman tells the Post, "This is not a new program, and the NYPD has been using this for years" during the summer, when crime traditionally spikes. Sources say the desk jockeys won't be required to meet the same summons and arrest quotas as their beat-cop counterparts, but their mere presence is expected to both deter crime and be a boon to local purveyors of fried, jelly-filled confections.

An interesting police strategy is described in this otherwise "non-story" on Free Williamsburg, which overall delves into a rumor that someone is out to bring down the Market Hotel, a Todd P venue in Brooklyn. The promoter has now addressed the rumors that were in the original story, which focused on a "raid" that took place last Friday and included baseless accusations that he was "being brought up on a slew of charges including weed and underage alcohol distribution."

The Critical Mass ride that wrapped up Bike Month last Friday night saw an increase in participants, as well as an increase in summonses for "failure to keep right" while cycling, which biking advocates maintain is not a valid ticket and is regularly dismissed in court. (The rule in question, RCNY 4-12(p)(3), states that "Bicyclists may ride on either side of one-way roadways that are at least 40 feet wide.") Over a dozen summonses were issued, some during a sting at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, where police wrote tickets for cyclists without front and rear lights.

The 24-year-old Brooklyn tattoo artist (pictured) who says three police officers beat and sodomized him in the Prospect Park subway station last October will be suing the city. Michael Mineo's lawyer tells the Post his client will seek $220 million in damages for the "physical pain, suffering and mental anguish, along with punitive damages suffered." In December, a grand jury indicted the three officers, and a criminal trial is expected to begin this fall. Mineo says the brutality took place after he ran from cops who accused him of smoking marijuana as he approached the station around noon on October 15th, 2008. After they apprehended him near the token booth, Mineo says Officer Richard Kern sodomized him with a baton. A transit cop who was in the station is expected to testify that he saw Kern put his baton on Mineo's buttocks. The damages sought in his civil lawsuit dwarf the money sought in other police brutality lawsuits—by comparison, Abner Louima, who was Mineo's predecessor in the annals of NYPD sodomy victims, sued the city for $155 million back in 2001, but got $8.6 million in a settlement.

A 71-year-old Queens grandmother say's she'll file a civil-rights lawsuit against the city after an altercation inside the 107th Precinct Wednesday night left her with a broken hip. Elizabeth Gorden (pictured) had gone there with other family members to find out why cops hadn't arrested a man who allegedly slapped her granddaughter at a bus station. What happened next is heavily disputed—police say the family became unruly and were asked to leave. And when a captain intervened, they say Gorden took a swing at him, missed and fell to the floor, breaking her hip. She had to have surgery this week.

State Labor Department investigators who raided a clothing manufacturer in the garment district Tuesday night say sweatshop workers had been toiling to make dress uniforms for the NYPD. According to NY1, the department doesn't have a contract with the raided company, Forest Uniform Corp., but had been recommending officers privately buy their uniforms from them. Labor Department Commissioner Patricia Smith told reporters yesterday that the company has been cheating its 16 employees out of nearly $500,000 in overtime pay: "While the fake timecards show employees working 35 or 40 hours in a given workweek, the real ones told a much different story. Employees were found to be working 70 to 80 hours a week, sometimes without a day of rest." Investigators also accused a contractor that works with Forest Uniform of violating labor laws. In a statement released yesterday, a combative Smith said other sweatshop owners should take notice: "For too long, this employer and its contractor have flagrantly thumbed their noses at our investigators. Enough is enough. Our patience in this matter is over. Either pay your workers and get in compliance, or we’ll confiscate or tag every last shirt, jacket and sock you produce."

Ever wonder how the NYPD treats cyclists on Bizarro world? Instead of locking horns with Critical Mass, or writing ridiculous tickets, or ignoring drivers who turn bike lanes into double-parking lots, or parking in bike lanes themselves, perhaps they'd take a less adversarial approach to pedaling commuters who brave this car-clogged city. Well, as a contrast to last year's infamous cop vs. bike bodyslam video, here's a look at the kind of treatment cyclists get from the police in the Bizarro world that is Denmark: free helmets and hugs. Awww.

A grand jury has indicted two NYPD officers in the alleged rape of an intoxicated woman they had escorted to her East Village apartment. Sources tell City Room that a grand jury voted last week to indict officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata, but the exact nature of the charges is still unclear. A lawyer for officer Moreno, a 17-year veteran on the force, says, "My client will appear in court tomorrow and enter a plea of not guilty. We look forward to a rigorous examination of the district attorney’s evidence."

First the disabled, now the elderly—Hizzoner's really on a roll this month. When Margaret Ionescu, an 82-year-old Romanian immigrant, returned to her Astoria apartment after a recent hospital stay, she was dismayed to find that the ceiling was water-damaged, a faulty front door wouldn't close properly, and the bathroom mirror was damaged. When her superintendent failed to make the repairs, she knew where to turn for help: The 311 non-emergency hotline created by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Yesterday morning, police killed a Bronx man who had been threatening to kill his family, allegedly saying, "I have to kill the children and my wife and send them to heaven. I don't care about killing myself and going to hell." Mauricio Jacques, 35, had been holding his wife with one hand while a 10-inch knife was in the other; their three children, ages 5 to 11, were also present. Cops had tried to negotiate with him for an hour; WCBS 2 reports that Jacques agreed to surrender but " then lunged with a 10-inch knife at officers, who tried to subdue Jacques with a stun gun and rubber pellets. Undeterred, he stabbed an officer in the abdomen of his protective vest and slashed another's vest near the neck." The cops used the Taser on him again, but that didn't stop him, so one cop grabbed his wife while two others fired six shots at Jacques. Last week, the police fatally shot a woman who slashed a police officer.

Two police officers pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for charges related to the 2007 incident where they allegedly beat and then abandoned a 14-year-old boy—clad only in his underwear— in a Staten Island swamp. The cops had claimed they were trying to teach him a lesson, because he had been throwing eggs at cars on Halloween. The teen, Rayshawn Moreno, was left to walk a mile for help; last year, judge, noting how Moreno was left by railroad tracks and high-voltage lines, upheld the charge of unlawful imprisonment, "The victim was exposed to the 'risk' of serious physical injury." The cops had also tried to cover up the incident "by not filing proper police reports."

A number of cops were injured when responding to calls about an emotionally disturbed man on Collier Avenue in Queens. According to the Daily News, "Sgt. Timothy Smith, 35, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan after being sliced under the left eye with a switchblade." The cops were trying to subdue Meil Perreira, who was charged at them with a hunting knife. He tried to escape and Smith apparently fired a Taser after him, but Perreira still managed to slash Smith in the face and two others officers in the hand (a fourth was bitten). 1010 WINS learns doctors "are unsure if they will be able to save the [Smith]'s eye."

Two undercover cops are being formally indicted today on charges that they framed two brothers and their friends in a drug bust at Club Delicioso in Elmhurst. Last January Officer Henry Tavarez and Detective Stephen Anderson were part of a team performing a “buy-and-bust” operation at the nightclub, resulting in six arrests. But prosecutors say Tavarez did not actually buy any blow, and instead used some of the cocaine bought by Anderson as evidence against four men who had simply been hanging out outside the club. Luckily for them, the defendants were able to obtain a copy of the surveillance video proving they never had any contact with the officers, and the charges against them were ultimately dropped. Both officers are now accused of conspiracy, official misconduct, and according to the Queens D.A., "knowingly engaging in criminal activity that could have resulted in lengthy prison terms for four innocent men."

Drivers, it's the last Friday in November—do you know where your car is? The day after Thanksgiving was the most-ticketed day of the last fiscal year, according to an extensive analysis of parking tickets conducted by the Times. The study concluded that parking tickets issued citywide have surged 42 percent since Mayor Bloomberg took office. During the last fiscal year, the city raked in $624 million in parking fines, which is more than the city spends to run the entire Department of Transportation. Officials, maintaining a straight face, insist the parking enforcement is not driven by revenue goals.

[UPDATE BELOW] Is a recently installed bike lane on South 4th Street in Brooklyn—yards from the northern pedestrian/bike entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge—misguiding cyclists onto the sidewalk and into the waiting arms of ticket-writing cops? A reader writes:

"As I reach the corner of South 4th Street and South 5th Place, just one short block away from one of the Brooklyn entrances to the Williamsburg bridge, I see that the bike lane arrows turn and point to the sidewalk. I thought it odd but I followed it knowing that it was just a short bit away from the entrance. 3/4 ways down the sidewalk I get stopped by 2 cops telling me that I can't ride on the sidewalk.... And then they proceed to give me a ticket!

Continue reading "Bike Lane Directing Cyclists Onto Sidewalk, Into Cops"

A reader tells us that the notoriously loud and trendy Delicatessen in Soho was closed this morning, sealed off with police tape, and crawling with cops. Along with the photo, he writes: "To the left of the two cops is a distraught manager-type telling me not to take pictures."

Two female NYPD cops accused of brutally beating a man during a road rage incident in August were indicted today by a Bronx grand jury. You'll recall the charges stem from an altercation between officers Michelle Anglin and Kollen Robinson—who were off-duty at the time—and Marlon Smith, who mouthed off to the pair after they yelled at him to shut his car door so they could pass by in Robinson's SUV. F-bombs ensued, followed by a pistol-whipping. When Smith tried to shut his door to drive away, Anglin allegedly blasted him with pepper spray, yelling, "Do you know who you are f------ with? We are the police!" And it emerged today that they're also accused of beating a witness with a baton when he tried to break up the fight. The cops face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the more serious assault charge.