Results tagged “flatbush”

Police are searching for clues in the Sunday evening murder of 18-year-old Brian Scott. Scott, known as a one of urban inline skating's "rising stars," was fatally shot at the Parkside Donut and Kennedy Fried Chicken on Flatbush Avenue, while two others were injured. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "We have no reason, at this time, to think that Brian Scott was anything but an innocent bystander. We are still, obviously, doing an aggressive investigation."

Last night around 8:30 p.m., a man walked into the Parkside Donut and Coffee Shop on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn and opened fire. Three people were shot; one of them, 18-year-old Brian Scott, died from his injuries while the other two, a 20-year-old man and a 23-year-old man, are in stable condition.

Yesterday Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly acknowledged that it will be "impossible" for prosecutors to determine how drunk an off-duty cop was when he fatally ran over a Brooklyn woman Saturday night. The family of Vionique Valnord is outraged that officer Andrew Kelly was able to successfully postpone having his blood tested for alcohol for over seven hours after the accident, and the Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating whether other officers helped him sober up. When finally tested, Kelly scored a perfect zero on the test, making the DWI charges against him problematic.

Amid allegations that his fellow cops helped "cover-up" his intoxication after fatally running over Vionique Valnord Saturday night, the lawyer for officer Andrew Kelly fiercely defended his client, who scored a perfect zero on his blood alcohol test, administered eight hours after the accident. Attorney Arthur Aidala told the Daily News, "To be crystal-clear, Andrew wasn't drunk. Andrew wasn't surprised by his blood-alcohol level. He knows what he did that day. He tried to save that woman. He got her breathing, and at one point, she opened her eyes. He's just sad that she's not breathing today."

After fatally running over a Brooklyn woman trying to hail a cab late Saturday night, off-duty cop Andrew Kelly successfully dragged his feet on taking a Breathalyzer or blood alcohol test for almost eight hours. And the gambit worked: When a doctor, acting on a warrant, finally drew Kelly's blood at 8 a.m., there was no alcohol in his system. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to charges of DWI and vehicular manslaughter; 32-year-old Vionique Valnord is dead.

The off-duty NYPD officer accused of DWI and vehicular manslaughter in the death of a Brooklyn pedestrian early Sunday morning managed to avoid having his blood alcohol level tested for over seven hours after the crash. As victim Vionique Valnord lay dying, officer Andrew Kelly, who was slurring his speech and reeked of alcohol, refused to take a Breathalyzer test, and told first responders he wouldn't easily submit to a blood test either: "I'm not going to let that happen," he said, according to a Daily News source. "You're going to have to tie me down."

Just before 1 a.m. on Sunday, Vionique Valnord, 32, was trying to hail a cab after a wedding reception in Flatbush when she was fatally struck by a Jeep Cherokee SUV; the driver was NYPD officer Andrew Kelly, 30, a seven-year veteran of the department who worked in the 68th Precinct. Four passengers in the SUV, one an off-duty cop, immediately fled the scene, but Kelly, who was off-duty, remained. His brother-in-law tells the Times that Kelly "performed CPR on the woman," and one witness tells the Post, "[Kelly] got out of the car, and he was trying to resuscitate her. He got her breathing again by the time the ambulance got here."

    

Toronto street artist Specter, who has been working out of Bed-Stuy for the past few months, has recently installed a three-sided mural in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and ISCP NYC. The mural illustrates "stories and memories from senior citizens in Flatbush Brooklyn," and you can find it at the corner of Ocean and Parkside, outside of the Parkside Avenue Station.

A Brooklyn woman tells the Post she's on the receiving end of a defamation campaign led by her ex-husband's friend, a prominent Orthodox rabbi. After Asia Teper of Marine Park separated from Shagra Kohn—both were born in Israel came to NY as teens— and took custody of their two daughters, Kohn allegedly became "ultra-Orthodox" and has been financially supported by his new rabbi friends, including Flatbush bigwig Yisroel Belsky. After the separation, Rabbi Belsky wrote a letter in the Jewish magazine , denouncing Teper's "descent into the abyss of immorality....without regard for her husband or children, she embraced a lifestyle that was, and remains to this day, the very antithesis of a Bas Yisraeli [daughter of Israel] and Aishes Chayil [woman of valor]." Belsky then went to her children's school and passed out copies of the magazine; Teper says, "Now [the school] won't talk to me. It's because I was dating someone. I wear pants and shorts when I go out jogging, and I don't cover my hair." Both Teper and Kohn (who hasn't paid $30,000 in child support and was arrested after taking their daughters out of camp and disappearing for days) have remarried.

Earlier this morning, a fire engulfed a house at 3916 Avenue K in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Firefighters found two men dead inside, but 1010 WINS reports that the FNDY is "looking for more possible victims as it was reported there were other people living in the house." Two passers-by and a neighbor knocked down a door, but the flames were too great. They also tried to convince the home's residents to jump, but were unsuccessful. Anthony Deloid told WCBS 2, "They were screaming 'Lord please help me. Lord please help me.' It was him and a woman screaming. I told them to jump. They wouldn't jump. They had a chance to jump, but they wouldn't," while neighbor Kissoondial Bissoondial said, "I hear a lady was asking 'Help me. Help me.' So I kicked the door down. Me and another guy kicked the door down. We tell them to run out, that the door was open, but I didn't see anyone run out."

A woman, accused of killing her former girlfriend's husband in November 2007, has pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. The Daily News reports that Anastasiya Andreyeva explained, "The candle was burning, and I saw the face with horns and I started shaking and sweating. And then I went to approach the candle and run with it outside because the voice in my head said, 'Bring people the light.'"

Yesterday around 7 p.m., a drive-by gunman fired at three people on Lenox Road near Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn (here's video of the area after the shooting). One of the victims was a sanitation worker, in a street sweeper, who had taken a break to get a drink from a bodega. The Daily News reports that san worker Anthony Pollard "told cops he had parked his sweeper to say hello to a cousin and buy a soda at the ND Food Market, his usual spot for a nightly break." He had been standing outside the store with two other men when a car drove by and someone fired more than a dozen times at the store from inside the vehicle. Pollard was shot in the stomach while the other men were hit in the leg and elbow; their injuries are not life-threatening. Police are asking people with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS or send a text message to "CRIMES," (274637), then enter "TIP577".

An attempted robbery at an East Flatbush auto shop yesterday turned into a wild shootout when two cops intervened. Two robbers pulled out guns and ordered everyone on the floor at Mel's Auto Specialist on Glenwood Road. Little did they know that one of the customers getting his 1998 Lexus checked out was an off-duty NYPD officer. Once their attention was elsewhere, the cop fired off a round, killing one of the robbers as the other fled into an SUV. The Post describes it "like a scene out of a Dirty Harry movie," as the officer chased the second suspect into the street, while bullets came flying at him. When he returned to the original scene, a second off-duty cop had now arrived and was telling him to put down his weapon. "I'm a cop! I'm a cop," yelled the original officer, according to the News. One customer in the shop during the robbery told WCBS 2, "I think he's very brave, and I'm very proud of him because we can't have these criminals walking around trying to rob people. Tomorrow is Mother's Day—it could have been anyone."

State Senator Kevin Parker was arrested last night outside his parents' home in Flatbush and charged with third degree criminal mischief after allegedly attacking a New York Post photographer. The photographer, William Lopez, claims that Parker flipped out when the senator realized his picture was being taken as he was leaving the house. Parker then came at Lopez and is accused of tearing out his flash and ripping out a panel on Lopez's car door. The photographer says that his finger may also be sprained. The Post was apparently working on a story about the Parker's home being in jeopardy of repossession; the senator is an advocate for foreclosure relief. Parker (no relation) also has a reputation of having a violent temper—in 2005, he was ordered to undergo an anger-management course after he was charged with punching a traffic agent and just last year a female staffer accused him of choking her and breaking her glasses.

A mostly vegetarian take-out restaurant named Salud—specializing in fresh juices, soups-from-scratch, and sandwiches—is now open in Midwood. Owner Eduardo Larios (an Art Director during the week) and family opened up the small shop a few weeks ago on a mostly gloomy dead end stretch of Avenue H, just off Coney Island Avenue, and Salud has quickly become one of the neighborhood's brightest spots.

An attempted robbery turned deadly when a man was shot in Flatbush just on the other side of the door from where his girlfriend and daughter stood waiting for him. Richard Neil was inches away from being let into the building where he was going to visit Sandra Budhai and their five-year-old daughter, Amami. Neil had been repeatedly telling the mugger that he didn't have any money until he finally pushed the attacker away. As Neil attempted to run away, the robber shot him in the torso, killing him. Police say Neil has been arrested four times for involvement with guns and drugs and was carrying marijuana at the time of the robbery, but did not know yet if the attack was drug-related. Neil volunteered three nights a week coaching a basketball team in a local park and lived with his mother a few blocks from the crime. He is survived by two daughters.

Maurice Mizrahi was storing 87 stolen parking meters in the basement of his mother's Flatbush home when she ratted him out to police. Mizrahi has been arrested seven times this year for stealing meters. Neighbors describe him as a drug addict who hasn't showered in months. He has been spotted shaking meters around the neighborhood to find ones with the most change, at which point he is able to spin them away from their base and carry them home in a shopping cart. For the NYPD to remove the 87 meters from Mizrahi's mother's basement required 15 men and took 2-1/2 hours. Police are searching for Mizrahi who they say made off with $6000 in quarters.

A fire at an apartment building on Lincoln Road grew to 6 alarms, requiring about 250 firefighters to help put it out. First reported just before 6 p.m., the fire broke out "in the space between the building's roof and the ceiling of the top floor." Firefighters had to cut holes in the roof to let smoke escape, and the top floor appeared to be completely destroyed. Residents were given shelter at a nearby school; a worried one told WCBS 2, "It's really hard to just lose everything that you had...At least we're all alive and I don't think anyone got hurt." Twenty-three firefighters and two civilians suffered minor injuries in the blaze.

Polie say an 11-year-old boy was fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver early this morning in Brooklyn. According to the AP, the incident occurred on East 42nd Street in Flatbush and police "determined that the boy, Rondell Grant Jr., had been hit by one of three cars that fled the scene." The boy was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital; police are continuing their investigation. Update: The police reportedly arrested a 19-year-old with leaving the scene of an accident.

An early morning two-alarm fire in an apartment building at 1001 Ocean Avenue (near Newkirk) in Brooklyn injured several residents. WABC 7 reports seven members of the same family were seriously injured--two children suffered first- and second-degree burns--and a "pregnant woman and a 56-year-old man" jumped from the second floor. Some firefighters were also injured in the blaze.

Four more people can be added to the total number of New Yorkers who have been run down by drivers finding it difficult to stay on the road this weekend. In the fourth incident in two days, two toddlers were badly injured when a 16-year-old driver swerved onto the sidewalk in Flatbush, Brooklyn and injured two children and two young women. Both of the toddlers needed to be hospitalized--one in critical condition and the other in stable condition.

Blogger Flatbush Pigeon recently noted the curious case of Pomegranate, the enormous new supermarket currently in its final stages of construction in Flatbush/Midwood. The food store takes the place of a kosher bakery, another store, and an auto repair shop. Giant pomegranates loom over Coney Island Avenue and Avenue L. The picture here belies the sheer size of the place—just take a look at Flatbush Pigeon’s photos.