An amusement park ride inspector warns that some of the rides at Coney Island are so dangerous they should not be open for business. Last summer a man died after surgery to heal vertebrae fractured on the Cyclone, but the rides now targeted by “amusement-safety consultant” Walt Reiss don’t include the famous wooden roller coaster. Reiss, who has previously trained New York City ride inspectors, tells the Post that the “Swingout” ride is so unsafe......

Last summer was a rough one for some riders of the 81-year-old Coney Island Cyclone; the Post reports that at least seven people were injured throughout the season while riding the roller coaster. According to Astroland operator Carole Albert’s website, the ride “has the highest safety standards in the outdoor amusement industry,” and in order to maintain that perception, Albert’s been trying to quietly settle the ensuing lawsuits out of court. The injured riders......

Two years ago, a jury decided that Starbucks should pay $301,000 to a customer whose feet were scalded with a hot coffee at a Midtown location. However, an Appellate Court reduced the verdict to $75,000--and Alice Griffin and her lawyer are still steaming about Starbucks' behavior. In 2004, Griffin was at a Midtown Starbucks when, as the Post describes it, a barista "pushed the loose-lidded cup toward Griffin"--"instead of simply placing the coffee on the......

A 7-year-old New York City boy has joined a growing number of children who’ve had the horrifying experience of getting their feet mangled by escalators while wearing popular plastic clogs made by Crocs. The boy’s mother says the accident happened in a Kentucky airport: ”All of a sudden I hear this excruciating screaming from Nicky and I turn around and his little foot is being sucked into the side of the escalator. It's just like......

This week's story about a 500-pound retired NYPD cop trying to get more dough (the green money kind) inspired The Late Show with David Letterman's Thursday night top ten list. Retired cop Paul Soto, who wears a 6-foot-long belt, has been receiving disability payments (equal to half his pay) as his narcolepsy, hypertension and morbid obesity prevented him from working his job. He boldly tried to prove that his disability was due to an......

When retired cop Paul Soto joined the force in 1993, he weighed a svelte 250 pounds. He now weighs over 500 pounds and is living off disability payments since maladies like narcolepsy, hypertension and, yes, morbid obesity, made his desk job unbearable. In 2006, he left the force, living off benefits which equal half his old paycheck, tax-free. But had his disability resulted from activity in the line of duty, Soto would be pulling in......