Lawmakers are looking to toughen laws around tinted windows on automobiles. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum pointed out that police officer Russel Timoshenko was fatally shot when he approached a stolen SUV with tinted windows. And current State Senator Eric Adams (a retired police captain and a founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care) summed it up, "The criminal element does not use tinted windows to protect themselves from dangerous UV rays. They use them to protect their illegal activity."
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Results tagged “lawenforcementwhocare”
Pols Go After Tinted Vehicle Windows
Search for Suspects in Bodega Owner's Murder
The police are reportedly looking for three to four suspects wanted in the fatal robbery of a Queens bodega owner on Monday. Bolivar Cruz (pictured) died on Tuesday after being shot in the head by robbers suspected of holding up over 15 other bodegas in Queens over the past few months. The robbers managed to steal $300 from Cruz's store.
Rewards Upped in Search for Granny Attacker
The search for the man who mugged two elderly women continues, as the police and politicians expand their efforts. The police have increased the reward for tips that lead to the mugger's capture to $12,000, City Councilman James Gennaro is offering $5,000, City Councilman Thomas White Jr. is offering $1,000, and the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care is offering $1,000. A lot of money given that the mugger stole $65, plus two rings. Additionally, State Senator Marty Golden is sponsoring a bill that will make attacks on seniors felonies, so prison sentences would be much harsher. But prison might be cake compared to what angry New Yorkers want to do to the scoundrel.
Most Hated: The Monster Who Beats Up Old Ladies
News that a man had mugged 85-year-old and 101-year-old women in vicious attacks has infuriated New Yorkers all over the city. After the NYPD released surveillance footage of a man punching 101-year-old, walker-wielding Rose Morat, Police Commissioner Kelly vowed to pull out all the stops in trying to find the attacker.
7th Avenue Subway Station Robberies Mean Racial Profiling?
A series of robberies at the 7th Avenue F train subway station in Park Slope has allegedly prompted the NYPD Transit captain to order officers to "stop all black male teens" there, according to the NY Post. Cops are apparently supposed to stop and question teens, while filling out "250 forms." This, of course, has set off a frenzy from different unions and organizations. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Assication's Patrick Lynch said, "Ordering police officers to stop every black male teenager is against the department's racial-profiling prohibition and creates more trouble for the officers than it will solve," while 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care head Eric Adams said, "We're going to go to the Seventh Avenue station and do observations," given the NYPD's past abuse using 250 forms.
Cop Under Fire Over TV Appearance
Gothamist is following the trial of Police Captain Eric Adams. The NYPD claims that Adams gave false information to the public during an appearance on CBS 2 about the subway terror alert last fall, while Adams' lawyer, Norman Siegel (of the ACLU), says that Adams' remarks fall under free speech. Adams had implied that the terror alert was used to overshadow the fact that Mayor Bloomberg wasn't attending a mayoral debate in Harlem (basically that the city waited three days to announce the news and deploy extra police officers), which could possibly be a cause for NYPD retaliation. But the NYPD is saying that Adams' statements during the broadcast were factually incorrect, and the mix of details from other commanders in the Manhattan South precinct is fascinating for the kind of staffing moves the NYPD makes during a terror alert. Adams is also the head of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, and his lawyers also seem to be saying that his role as the head of that organization gives him an opportunity to speak for 100 BLEWC, not necessarily being a "representative of the police department."
Extra, Extra
- With City Council Speaker's firing of 60 council staffers, the comments thread at The Politicker got very interesting
Lower East Side Murder Investigation Continues
One of the muggers challenged two teenage girls who were with them — saying they just robbed a guy and asking what the girls could do. The girls planned to show they were as tough as their friends by beating up DuFresne and Gibson — but things quickly escalated, the sources said.
Law vs. Order
Gothamist has been following the tempest-in-a-policeman's-coffee-mug story of Justice Laura D. Blackburne since late last week, when it turned out that Justice Blackburne let a drug dealer evade arrest. A detective was waiting to arrest Derek Sterling for a robbery case after Sterling's routine update hearing; Justice Blackburne stated:
"I understand that there is a detective on the premises who has some reason to believe that he ought to arrest you...I resent the fact that a detective came to this court under the ruse of wanting to ask you questions when, in fact, he had it in his head that he wanted to arrest you. If there is a basis for him arresting you, he will have to present that in the form of a warrant. I'm not trying to keep you from being arrested. I'm trying to keep you from being arrested today in my courtroom based on obvious misrepresentation on the part of the detective."And then she allowed the suspect to leave through a side door (he was arrested the next day). That just seems...nutty. But we think we see the judge's point. Then again, we do feel the police were trying to do their job, so we don't know! The police union, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, the detectives' union, court officer's union, all had a fit, asking for her to removed and for an investigation to occur, and yesterday, Justice Blackburne agreed to be transferred to from criminal court to civil court. The judge, though, has many supporters, including Lt. Eric Adams from 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care and Ron Kuby, who feel that the judge is simply doing her job and not cowing to the police. Kuby also points out "This is a complete failure of the judiciary to preserve its own independence in the face of an attack by the police union and the court officers' union. Typically, my clients are first charged, then tried, then punished if found guilty. Apparently there's a new system for judges, where they get punished first as long as the P.B.A. is demanding it." Ah, Ron Kuby - he's one tenth the man William Kunstler was, but Gothamist still enjoys his flamboyance.
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