A diabetic woman who was caught smoking pot in the Lower East Side has won a $125K settlement from the city because police refused to let her administer insulin after her blood sugar rose to dangerous levels in lockup. Cops at the Seventh Precinct confiscated 30 year-old Jaime Rutkowski's glucose meter and her insulin, and only called EMTs after her blood sugar rose higher than three times the normal level. "Any endocrinologist will confirm that this is enough for a Type-1 diabetic to go into shock, slip into a coma, and die," her attorney tells the Post. Rutkowski was treated at Bellevue for the October incident, and discharged from police custody. more ›

A Queens man and his dog are the latest victims of stray voltage. According to WPIX, 52-year-old James Evans was walking his dog Max in Far Rockaway at 2 p.m. yesterday when he felt a shock. Max managed to pull away after a few yelps, but Evans says he couldn't move. more ›

Where there's winter weather, there's stray voltage! Yesterday a woman was shocked on Broadway at 35th Street in Herald Square. NY1 reports that she felt an electric shock under her foot and was later treated for minor injuries. Con Ed was on the scene and discovered a sewer grate and an FDNY pull box with stray voltage that originated from "a manhole at the southeast corner where an underground cable had energized the grate and the pull box." (Four others—including a Post reporter—were also shocked nearby.) Here's a map of stray voltage that's been found in the five boroughs; the area where the woman was shocked has had 163 incidents of stray voltage found, with 10 potentially lethal at 50 or more volts. more ›

While electric shocks reaching through the sidewalk pavement can happen during any season — a Post reporter's dog died in June 2007, another shocked in August — most incidents take place during the winter months. This is because wet and salt-covered sidewalks can conduct stray electricity from underground utilities. more ›

The criminals hold the tasers now! Watch out would-be targets, if last year the machete was the weapon of choice, one mugger in Brooklyn may be unintentionally spearheading a taser trend. The Brooklyn Paper notes that on October 2nd "a stun-gun-toting purse snatcher shocked a victim on Bayard Street [at Graham Avenue] before running off. The woman was walking home from a bar at around 3 a.m." The robber ran off with her purse, cash and cell phone after she collapsed to the ground. Serious buzz kill. more ›

A reader wants to remind dog owners—and everyone else— to be aware that their pups could be electrocuted not just by lamp posts and manhole covers but by construction scaffolding as well. more ›

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The NY Post reports that one of their own, Denise Buffa, is suing Con Ed. Buffa, a Post reporter, told the heartbreaking tale of her dog being shocked last June; the 100-pound Italian mastiff died after his encounter with the electrified light pole in Marcus Garvey Park. more ›

With pedestrians and puppies getting electrocuted all over the city, a website has finally launched mapping hot zones. more ›