According to the Daily News, a white NYPD sergeant in Brooklyn is being investigated for allegedly using a racial slur against a black officer. Sgt. Sean McLaine, of the ever-troubled 79th Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been accused of calling Officer Roberto Stokes "boy" several times. Stokes's lawyer, Norman Siegel, said the incident was indicative of a culture of racism within the NYPD: "In the year 2011, somebody calling an African-American officer a boy is simply unacceptable. This incident is part of a larger problem of race with that precinct." more ›

Police shot an East Flatbush man four times in the legs after he lunged at them with a machete last night. Three officers encountered the 49-year-old after responding to a call from the man's daughter alerting them of an emotionally disturbed person in their East 94th Street residence, according to the Times. When the cops arrived at the door, the man approached them with the blade. After "pepper spray failed to subdue the man," an NYPD sergeant fired 13 shots, hitting him in both legs. The man, whose name has not yet been released, had no previous arrest record. In past years, machetes have been used in multiple stabbings, including several gang-related incidents in Williamsburg. more ›

As a 15-year veteran of the NYPD, Sergeant Joseph Spiekerman knew exactly what to do after drunkenly running a red light and plowing into 68-year-old Barry Gintel one morning last month: Refuse to take the breath test! Though he admitted he'd been drinking, cops on the scene had to get a court order to draw his blood, so we'll never know just how wasted Officer Spiekerman was when he ran over Gintel at 6:40 a.m. on June 29th at York Avenue and 86th Street. Gintel was on his way back to his apartment after buying a coffee and two buttered rolls at The Mansion diner; the cashier tells the Daily News, "I give him his change, look out the window, and I see he got hit and goes flying 10, maybe 20 feet in the air." The impact shattered the windshield of Spiekerman's Volvo and Gintel underwent emergency surgery for two fractured legs, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and head and neck injuries. He's still in the hospital and wearing a neck brace! Spiekerman has been suspended without pay and is charged with felony vehicular assault and DWI, and the News seems rather surprised that "police officials declined to explain why they failed to release details of the crash and Spiekerman's arrest sooner." more ›

A retired NYPD sergeant with no prior criminal record was arrested yesterday just minutes after robbing a Long Island bank. Thomas Feeney, 47, who retired 12 years ago because of knee injures and a heart condition, allegedly walked into a Huntington Station bank Tuesday morning and passed the teller a note demanding cash and calling attention to the loaded .38-caliber pistol tucked in his waistband. He walked out with an undisclosed sum, but one brave bank employee trailed him to his SUV and phoned in his license plate to police, who pulled him over just a couple miles away. Besides the gun and the cash, cops found a badge noting he was a retired NYPD officer in his pocket (but arrested him anyway!). Sgt. Robert Doyle of the Major Case Investigations Unit tells Newsday, "He said he'd been out so long that he doesn't get much money in disability anymore." Apparently, Feeney's got credit card debt in the five figure range, and Doyle tells the Post the bank job "appears to be economically motivated." But let's not rule out thirst for adventure as a motive, either. more ›

After serving tours in the Middle East, it was a Brooklyn backyard barbecue that proved deadly for Sergeant Kidson George. The 26-year-old man was gunned down on the porch of a Crown Heights home where he was celebrating the 4th of July with his girlfriend and others. George was shot twice in the chest by his girlfriend's former boyfriend, sending children screaming and dashing for cover. more ›