A Brooklyn teen standing on a street divider was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver last night. Terence Tsao, 17, was standing on a Cropsey Ave. traffic island at Bay 37th St. in Gravesend when a 2000 Dodge minivan jumped the curb and hit him around 9:40 p.m. Tsao was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he died. more ›

As if the story of the man who drove his father's Nissan Quest minivan into the Harlem Meer in Central Park couldn't get weirder, what with Antony Romo's claims that his dad loved the car more than his own son, it does! The Post reports, "A police source confirmed that on July 14, Anthony [Romo] had gone to retrieve his cat from mom Donna Gianell, 55, at his parents' Upper West Side apartment, but for some reason she refused to hand over the kitty and stabbed him." more ›

Yesterday, just after noon, a man drove a van into the lake at the Harlem Meer, located in the northeastern corner of Central Park. As a commenter on Harlem Bespoke pointed out, "Quite honestly - a person has to try pretty hard to do that!" And it turned out the driver, 30-year-old Anthony Romo, was aiming for the lake. A witness tells the Post that Romo said, "F*ck that car! It’s my father’s car. He loves that car more than he loves me." Another witness told the Daily News, "Then he sat down. He didn't try to resist or run. ... It was insane." more ›

Three Bronx teens got into a car accident on the Bruckner Expressway early yesterday morning after an apparent evening of tagging. One of the trio, 16-year-old Shaadieq Hicks, is in a coma after he was thrown from the backseat and through the windshield when the van overturned; the driver may be facing manslaughter charges if Hicks dies. "They're saying my baby might not pull out. His heart stopped twice today. They said he won't be the same," Hicks' distraught mother, 31-year-old Shinkikwah Burke, told the News. more ›

Miraculously, no one was killed in yesterday's Queens Village crash involving an 18-wheeler truck, a minivan, an SUV and the Q43 (or Q46) bus. The crash took place at the intersection of Hillside Avenue and the Clearview Expressway, where witnesses say the bus was "zooming from the ramp" at about 60 mph. It then slammed into the van and the SUV, which produced a chain reaction that left the 18-wheeler knocked against a building. The witness told the Post, "I thought people were dead. Good thing there were no people on the street." more ›

The Bronx man who left his Maltese dog in his van parked at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park this summer, is going to undergo a mental evaluation. The dog died in the van after overheating (it was 140-degrees) and last we heard Heriberto Palacio facing jail time. Now the Daily News reports that the 42-year-old was back in court yesterday, where his hearing was delayed in order for a mental health group to review him—but his lawyer says, "I don't believe there will be any mental health issues for Mr. Palacio." more ›

The Bronx man who left his little Maltese dog to die in a 140-degree van is headed to court today. Heriberto Palacio, 42, decided to cool off at a community pool in July when he left his dog to overheat in his van. Animal lovers were outraged, and according to the Daily News, Westchester County officials are pushing for jail time—he could face up to one year if convicted. One humane law enforcement chief told the paper, "The whole focus here is to have Mr. Palacio serve some time... Because of his neglect, the dog did suffer." Palacio's lawyer says his client—who has also been arrested for manslaughter and grand larceny, amongst other things—"still has pain" over his dog's death. more ›

Seven members of a Bronx church were killed on Interstate 87 near Woodbury yesterday when their van blew a tire and flipped over on the road. The Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies church members were heading to a banquet in Schenectady when the rear tire exploded, causing driver Bernard Lattibuediere to lose control. Among the dead are the church's Bishop, Simon White, and his wife, Zelda. more ›

When reader Rishi D. sent us this photo of a "Con Electric" van on Park Place, we initially thought it was a part of some image overhaul from good ol' Con Ed. But Con Ed spokesman Allan Drury quickly shot that suspicion down, telling us, "That’s not a Con Edison vehicle. We have not undertaken any such rebranding. I have no way of knowing the identity of the people in the photo or the owner of the truck." more ›

Yesterday, city officials rolled out five van services to take over canceled bus routes through Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. And though New Yorkers are still frothing over the MTA service cuts, those taking the van services say they're generally not bad. One passenger said the $2-a-ride price tag was pretty good, "but I buy a MetroCard, so there’s no point in paying more." more ›

Bread deliveryman Jorge Martinez, 39, was struck and killed by a bullet that pierced the roof of his van as he was making his rounds last night. Two rounds entered the car as he drove down Avenue X in Gravesend, with one striking him in the head. Police believe that because of the downward entry angle of the bullets, Martinez may have been the target of a sniper. One official told the Times, "We’re looking for a gunman who fired from a rooftop." more ›

The Bronx man who baked his Maltese dog to death after leaving him in his 140-degree van earlier this week (he now faces a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge) had been cooling off at the Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park pool for more than an hour when his dog was spotted by a passerby. According to the Daily News, he told police, "there should have been a public service announcement, someone should have warned us." Okay everyone, consider this your warning: leaving dogs (and babies!) in cars with the windows rolled up during a heatwave will most likely lead to death. more ›

Sadly, with summer comes stories of animals dying in the sweltering cars of their incompetent owners. Fox5 reports that a Bronx man has been arrested after leaving his dog inside of his van. 41-year-old Heriberto Palacio now faces a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge. more ›

Licensed and unlicensed commuter vans have been slugging it out in the outer boroughs. Though there are over 300 licensed commuter van drivers shuttling passengers from one zone to the next, there are hundreds more unlicensed vans that snatch up commuters and don't pay insurance. Licensed drivers are accusing the unlicensed guys of cutting them off to pick up passengers, and even threatening them when they are confronted. One driver's van even got stolen! more ›

The 18-year-old woman who drove a passenger van into a house—killing its owner—in Hempstead on Tuesday was admitted to the Nassau County jail's medical ward. Kayla Gerdes was allegedly high on Oxycontin and Xanax, which police say contributed to the crash, while Gerdes' lawyer doesn't think his client was high (she did tell reporters that she was on prescription drugs), saying instead that his client mistook the accelerator for the brakes. But she really wanted to know what she looked like on the news! more ›

Yesterday morning, a 69-year-old woman who was mowing her front yard was killed when a runaway van slammed her into her home in Hempstead, Long Island. Now Nassau County Police say the van's driver was drunk high. Newsday reports, "The driver, Kayla Gerdes, of Meister Boulevard, Freeport, was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, DWI, and driving without a license." Update: The police now say that Gerdes was speeding to make a court appearance (she stole her mother's jewelry) and that she was high on oxycodone. [More details below.] more ›

This morning, a woman who was in the front yard of a Hempstead, Long Island home was killed when a van barreled onto her lawn and slammed her into her house. It's unclear if the woman was a resident or pedestrian, but WCBS 2 reports, "A broken lawn mower was seen near the van with the handle bars stripped off. Black tire tracks in the street mark where the van veered onto the sidewalk, followed by a long trail of tracks through the grass. The front of the gray van went through a portion of the brick house by the front door." more ›

Thieves rammed an ATM machine with a U-Haul van in an attempted robbery early this morning. It's unclear if they were able to grab any cash after they toppled an ATM near the corner of 112th Street and 3rd Avenue—though it appears they left the machine in pretty bad shape, based on this MyFoxNY photo. The thieves then drove off in the rented vehicle, but police were able to stop the van and apprehend one suspect in Soundview in the Bronx. According to police scanner reports, a second suspect, described as wearing all black, "fled on foot towards the Bruckner Expressway." more ›

Marty Markowitz and The Department of Transportation got another wake-up call on Sunday when a Brooklyn man died after hitting a giant pothole. The 32-year-old driver of a packed Honda Odyssey was thrown from his side window after hitting the hole and then slamming into a telephone pole. He ended up on the pavement near the corner of Kings Highway and Tilden Avenue in East Flatbush, and the car landed on top of him. He died at Brookdale University Hospital shortly after the crash at 3:30 a.m. "The van was on top of the driver," one witness told the NY Daily News. "They had to jack up the vehicle to get it off him." His five passengers, who told officials they were coming from a nearby club, were injured but are expected to survive. "It's crazy—I'm absolutely shocked," said another witness. "I've never seen an accident this bad." more ›

The certificate in the windshield of the illegally parked van that sat in Times Square for two days before sending the city into panic was stolen — and it doesn't have anything to do with parking, according to the nonprofit that issued the ID. Though it looks like an NYPD parking placard, a lawyer representing Detectives Crime Clinic of New Jersey and New York claims the certificate isn't supposed to carry any benefits and merely serves as a way of identifying members. more ›

It's no Man Getting Hit By Football, but this video of a Dodge van getting smashed by a wrecking ball is probably worth ten of your seconds, depending on what you've got going on today. While there is some debate as to the origins of the video—one YouTube commenter astutely declares, "has to be fake i live in nyc and I would have heard about this shit in the news and on the front of the ny post"—we're pretty sure this looks like a filmed stunt for a movie, or maybe a viral marketing ad. If so, you're welcome Astroboy! more ›

Firefighters recovered the remains of two men from a burning van in Sunset Park last night. The victims — whose names have not yet been released — were apparently homeless and lived in the van, which had been parked near the Gowanus Expressway at the corner of 45th Street and Third Avenue for two years, according to neighbors. Investigators told the Times it's possible that the men, who were pronounced dead at the scene, had set a fire to keep warm. Last winter, a homeless man was found burnt to death in Owls Head Park, just 20 blocks away from yesterday's Sunset Park blaze. In that instance, police surmised that the victim had surrounded himself with candles to keep warm. more ›

The Queens woman who steered a van full of foster children into oncoming traffic Monday night had alcohol in her system and a crack pipe in her... possession, investigators say. The horrific crash claimed the lives of two of the five children in the van, but driver Sheila Bethea, 45, survived. Yesterday prosecutors charged her with manslaughter, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. One witness tells the Times the crash "sounded like a truck hit a building." more ›

Money may not be able to buy you love, but the promise of love may lure you into shelling out some of that cash on a luxury condo? Realtors! They're so crazy. According to the Real Deal, the folks behind 184 Kent in Williamsburg will soon be "hitting the streets of the Lower East Side in a van, looking to take well-to-do hipsters to the Brooklyn waterfront. They won't actually be driving them there. But the idea is to troll for arty, young Lower East Side-type professionals where they live and hang out." Strange vans are the perfect way to approach people whose money you want, we agree. This one will be adorned with fake advertisements for "WilliamsburgLove" (a mock dating site which even has video), and position itself outside of clubs; with this tactic they said they think they'll have the building fully leased in 8 to 10 months (that's 350 units). [via Curbed] more ›

Last night, a woman was injured when an out-of-control van came "skidding" off the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park exit in Queens. According to the Daily News, "the woman, who had come from Virginia to attend a high school reunion, was talking on a cell phone when the van smashed into the parked Toyota she was standing next to, police sources said." A witness told WABC 7, "The white van was on the expressway changing lane to lane and going very fast. For some reason it then turned towards the park, came on the grass, crashed into a blue car then hit one of the girls. She went flying up into the air and then the van just kept going and spinning around, eventually around the tree." The victim, Paula Jimenez, is reportedly in critical condition. The Post reports the driver, Jian Seng He, 49, was "charged with assault, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident"—he also may have been fleeing from another accident at the time. more ›

The five French tourists who became unwilling passengers in a high-speed chase on Tuesday when police tried to bust an unlicensed livery van at JFK are getting a great taste of American instant-celebrity. Yesterday two of the tourists attended a big press conference to publicly thank the officers involved in the incident, which began after undercover Port Authority cops spotted a hustler steering them into the unlicensed van—when one officer tried to grab the keys, the driver sped off with the newly-arrived French visitors trapped inside. more ›

Five French tourists got dragged on a crazy, high-speed chase after getting into an unlicensed livery van at JFK yesterday. The unwanted excitement started around 11 a.m. after Port Authority police spotted Ian McFarland, 57, hustling the newly-arrived French visitors from the Air France terminal to an unauthorized van. According to the Post, Officer Michael Bestany recognized McFarland as a "longtime steerer" of travelers to the illegal vans, and when Bestany reached into the vehicle to grab the keys, driver Khaalis Preacher floored it, knocking Bestany to the pavement, injuring his shoulder and knee. Captive tourist Gwen Dulugat, who injured her arm while trying to jump from the moving van, describes the high-speed chase that ensued: "It went very, very fast. We're going zoom, zoom, zoom. The police were fantastic. They were behind us all the time." Preacher led cops to East New York, where he finally crashed through the mechanical gate arm of a US Postal Service facility. The Post got great photos of the police, guns drawn, chasing down the two suspects and arresting them; the other tourists escaped with no injuries and an ultimate New York story. more ›

A minivan covered with parking tickets and debris had been sitting on 34th Avenue under the BQE overpass for long enough that a city marshal was finally dispatched to have the 2000 Chevrolet Ventura towed on Wednesday morning. But a grisly surprise was waiting inside: The badly decomposed corpse of a 59-year-old man, who apparently died from a heart attack, at least according to his daughter. Sources tell the Daily News that the deceased driver, a diabetic handyman named George Morales, was homeless, but his 29-year-old daughter Jennifer insists he lived with her and her two kids in Washington Heights. She says she called police after he went missing last month, but the NYPD claims they have no record of a missing person report. There's probably more to this story, but for now all we know are the disturbing details Morales shares with the News: "The window was cracked open. I don't understand how no one noticed him. They just gave him tickets. In the autopsy, they said they just found skeletal remains, no organs, only his heart." She believes he had a heart attack. more ›

Though his lawyer argues that a "vehicular malfunction" caused the crash that killed a pregnant woman on a midtown sidewalk in March, the van's driver admitted to police that he was drinking before the horrible accident. Keston Brown, 28, first told cops he'd only consumed two Bud Lights before getting behind the wheel, but six hours later he admitted to imbibing more than double that amount at an Upper West Side bar: "We stayed 30 to 40 minutes. I had about three or four bottles of Bud Light and one shot of Hennessey." But Brown maintains that he wasn't drunk, and that the van mysteriously "turned off" before he careened onto the sidewalk and killed Ysemny Ramos, who was two months pregnant. Police sources say that moments before the crash, Brown and his coworker in the passenger seat had been driving alongside Ramos and her friend, "shouting come-ons at the two women from his window before losing control of the delivery van." Yesterday Brown pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide, manslaughter and assault charges, but a Supreme Court judge refused to lower his bail. more ›

Just before noon, a rally is being held outside the Manhattan DA's office, demanding for an investigation into the deaths of four-year-old Hayley Ng and three-year-old Diego Martinez. The two pre-schoolers were killed when an unoccupied van, left idling on East Broadway in Chinatown, jumped a curb and crash into them as their class was coming back from a field trip. The incident was deemed an accident, but the children's families are upset that the driver wasn't even issued a ticket and still has his license. Hayley's aunt told Streetsblog "We're hoping for the DA to set a precedent and prosecute this person or convene a grand jury." (WCBS 2 interviewed Hayley's mother who said, "No, I'm not all right! I'll never be all right! She's gone!") The rally is at One Hogan Place. more ›