A Bronx man has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the city claiming he was wrongfully arrested on made-up charges of soliciting sex from an undercover cop—and the NYPD kept him behind bars for so long he missed his father's funeral. "It's very upsetting," 51-year-old security guard Clifton Quarles Jr. said in a statement issued to the Daily News. "My father was my best friend and I missed his funeral. I will have to live with that for a lifetime." more ›

Disgraced ex-governor Eliot Spitzer is off the hook! After a lengthy investigation, the United States attorney in Manhattan, Michael J. Garcia, says his office has found no evidence that Spitzer misused public or campaign funds to pay the Empire Club VIP for prostitutes. And while it is a federal offense to transport women across state lines "for immoral purposes"—which Spitzer definitely did—Garcia decided that "the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter." In a statement, Spitzer said, "I appreciate the impartiality and thoroughness of the investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office, and I acknowledge and accept responsibility for the conduct it disclosed. I resigned my position as Governor because I recognized that conduct was unworthy of an elected official. I once again apologize for my actions, and for the pain and disappointment those actions caused my family and the many people who supported me during my career in public life." more ›

Hedge-fund money manager Maria Dominguez took her top off five years ago at one of Diddy's Hamptons bashes, and promptly sued (Diddy, the magazine and photographer) for $3 million when her photo ran in an issue of Vibe alongside the caption "Mermaids gone wild." Dominguez claimed she never thought she'd be photographed at his famous White Party, with Vibe's argument being they didn't need permission to use photos from the newsworthy event. In the end "the judge's fear of a decision to the contrary would have opened up Pandora's Box, being that Manhattan is the media capital of the world," her lawyer told the Daily News. And the "mental strain" the photo caused Dominguez all those years ago? It's probably back now since the image is reappearing in plenty of papers again! At least she had the good sense to wear starfish-shaped pasties that night, and now she'll have the good sense to know cameras might just be present at high profile parties. more ›

Surprising no one, the cyclist who was captured on videotape being violently slammed off his bike by a rookie cop during a July Critical Mass ride plans to sue the city. In his first interview, Christopher Long also tells Chelsea Now that after Officer Patrick Pogan knocked him to the curb, he stood over Long and asked, "Do you wanna try that again?" Long also says he thinks Pogan "is going to be a scapegoat in this situation because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...I think that the department really helped him do what he did, because he felt safe to act that way. He felt entitled to act that way. That’s the department, culturally. The department set him up for failure. He committed a crime, he assaulted me. He didn’t do that by himself." Long spent 27 hours in the Tombs after his arrest and was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The D.A. finally dropped the charges earlier this month; Pogan is still under investigation. more ›

UPDATE: As expected, the Manhattan District Attorney has dropped all charges against Christopher Long, per this press release from Times Up. more ›