Finally, a use for texting that doesn't involve sexting, car accidents, or acquitted rapists: A teen and his grandfather were literally trapped in the mud Wednesday night when their canoe capsized after duck hunting in the Hudson River's Tivoli Bays. Thomas Mulvaney, 17, and Christopher Hoffman, 73, were dripping wet and stuck without a way to get out, and their phones weren't able to make calls. But Mulvaney was still able to text for help, and they were saved after three hours. The Dutchess County sheriff's office said the pair "started to have the onset of hypothermia. There was a definite risk of life-threatening issues," while Hoffman said, "Without that cell phone of his, we would have been in deep shit." more ›

This must be one of everyone's worst nightmares: Getting trapped between the subway and platform. Just after midnight on Thursday, a man got his leg caught between the D train and platform at the Grand Street station on the Lower East Side. One onlooker took video of the man while he was trapped. more ›

Two women are suing the Wildlife Conservation Society because they spent five hours stranded on the Bronx Zoo's Skyfari one evening in July 2008. After a strong gust of wind knocked a cable car's wheel off track, stopping all cable car movement, some 37 zoo visitors were left with nothing to do but sit 100 feet above the ground (and lions and gazelles) alone with their thoughts—or, worse, other people. Robin Dean, 26, and her 27-year-old friend, Migdalia Arinegas, both teachers, have filed a lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court seeking unspecified damages. more ›

Paramedics, the FDNY, and panicked neighbors worked together to save a 7-year-old boy from falling to his death in a Bronx building's elevator shaft yesterday. Milton Apolinaris and his younger brother were on their way to play with a friend when the elevator at 710 Hunts Point Avenue stalled between the third and fourth floors. According to the Post, the boy managed to pry the doors up but when he tried to climb out he got his foot stuck between the floor and the elevator car. One resident tells the Daily News, "He was outside the elevator, but upside down in the shaft. His feet were on the fourth floor and his body was on the third." more ›

The Brooklyn Paper reports on a 7-year-old cat that was trapped in a narrow shaft in a Carroll Gardens apartment building, three floors below where it was supposed to be. It took over two weeks to get it out, but that's not was garnered the story so much attention. Turns out Rumi, the cat, was just fine, but Chris Muth, the cat-sitter, landed in a mental hospital during the ordeal! His medical records were brandished with the words: “bizarre delusion [that he] was trying to ‘save’ a cat of his friend." See, to rescue the feline he had to partially rip apart not one, but two apartments -- and during the second one (the one he didn't have permission to access) he was taken away to the psych ward of Long Island College Hospital. Luckily, NYC's Animal Care and Control finally rescued Rumi, who was trapped for a total of 15 days...as for Muth, he was held for 6! Update: Muth has lost his job, his house and his girlfriend over this! more ›

A state law proposed to offer airline passengers trapped aboard grounded planes at New York airports a baseline of humane treatment (e.g. water, air, bathroom facilities) was struck down by the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today. The New York Airline Passenger Bill of Rights was enacted after some high-profile incidents that had passengers stuck aboard delayed flights for hours, with overflowing toilets and no food or drink. more ›

An 80-year-old woman was rescued Thursday by a former neighbor whose concerns were aroused when she spotted newspapers piling up outside the Woodside, Queens woman's front door. Kim Russo used to live next door to Rose Schwing and was stopping by her old neighborhood to visit her mother. When the 47-year-old Russo saw the papers and mail accumulating in front of Schwing's house, she peaked inside one of Schwing's windows and heard her cries for help. more ›