When driving with drugs, don't overdo it with the air fresheners! That seems to be the moral of the story of ex-Sanitation worker John Mignano, who was caught allegedly transporting 8.8 pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, and nearly $21,000 in cash at a traffic stop in Kansas. Mignano would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for his penchent for air fresheners, the Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper who busted him recently recounted in Brooklyn federal court. more ›

Yesterday at 5:20 p.m., a Department of Sanitation worker was arrested for DWI after crashing his loaded garbage truck, head-on, into a car at Bushwick Avenue and Grand Street in East Williamsburg. Images of the wrecked Hyundai are dramatic—the car's driver had to be cut out of the vehicle—and the driver and passenger were hospitalized. According to WABC 7, "Witnesses say the on-duty worker was given a breathalyzer test at the scene and arrested shortly afterwards." more ›

A Department of Sanitation worker faces a number of charges after a bat-swinging road rage incident on Staten Island over the weekend. 42-year-old Joseph Pasquale, who has been with the department for 18 years, was driving his white Ford pickup truck on Staten Island Saturday morning when he allegedly cut off an unidentified 22-year-old woman. In response, she reportedly honked her horn. An outrage! Pasquale certainly wasn't going to stand for that level of disrespect—especially not with his 5-year-old daughter in the cab with him. And he allegedly keeps a baseball bat handy for just such teachable moments. more ›

Part-time sanitation worker Eric Pagan, 20, was shoveling snow outside a Department of Sanitation depot in Inwood yesterday when he fell through a ventilation grate for the 1 train. Pagan had spent the day shoveling sidewalks and crosswalks for the city, but when he returned to the depot, the supervisor wouldn't let him knock off because it wasn't quite 5 p.m. yet. Instead, Pagan and another worker were tasked with shoveling the sidewalk outside the depot. Minutes later, he was bleeding at the bottom of a hole. more ›

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". more ›

A firefighter and a sanitation worker were indicted in Brooklyn yesterday on charges of operating a marijuana grow house in the basement of a Queens residence. Prosecutors accuse Woodside firefighter Matthew Cody and his sanitation worker brother Michael of using the Queens Village house to grow the hydroponic weed, and sources tell My Fox NY it was just one of several grow houses, which could each potentially bring in $2 million a year. Cody's partner in the scheme, fellow firefighter Patrick Murray, was arraigned last month on charges of manufacturing and possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. The feds nabbed him outside the house after getting a tip that he was loading high-intensity discharge lights, often used for indoor plants, into a rented truck. The trio face a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 80 years in prison if convicted because the house is less than a thousand feet from an elementary school. And it's unclear exactly what fate awaits all that primo grass, so let's just try not to think about it. more ›