Results tagged “violence”

Two shootings and a stabbing in Fort Greene yesterday "were the result" of a cheap chicken wing event at a nearby eatery, according to the commanding officer of Brooklyn's 88 Precinct. High school students from across the borough flocked to a 40-cent wing promotion at Buffalo Wild Wings on Atlantic Avenue — then things got dicey. Here's how NYPD Captain Anthony Tasso described the crimes to the Times blog The Local:

The Columbia University professor suspected of punching a female colleague in the face in an argument over "white privilege" has been banned for life from the bar where the fight occurred. The Post reports that Lionel McIntyre, the 59-year-old associate architecture professor implicated in the racially-heated fight on Friday, will not be allowed to return to the Broadway bar Toast, where he was once a regular. The scuffle left Camille Davis, a production manager in Columbia's theater department, "with bruising and redness in the right eye," police reports indicated.

Police arrested a Columbia University architecture professor suspected of punching a female colleague in the face in a racially charged bar brawl on Friday. Professor Lionel McIntyre, 59, allegedly struck Camille Davis, a production manager in Columbia's theater department, after arguing with her and another man about "white privilege" in Toast on Broadway and 125th Street.

A Bronx cop shot a teenager in the face after the adolescent reached for a BB gun on Holland Avenue yesterday afternoon. A plainclothes narcotics detective fired on 15-year-old Marcus Bonner at around 5 pm, hitting the aspiring rapper in the cheek after he made a move for the authentic-looking gun. "He makes like he's putting his hands up to surrender," a police source told the Daily News. "It's a fake surrender and he reaches for his gun."

[UPDATE BELOW] More reports of Mister Softee's violent threats against rival ice cream trucks have surfaced. And this time the target is the infinitely superior ice cream purveyor Van Leeuwen, whose Twitter feed announces, "Truck had to leave midtown :( . There were 3 Mr. Softie Trucks threatening our drivers life. Scary stuff! Sorry guys, maybe another time." Or maybe you just stay off Softee's turf and your fancy trucks don't accidentally burst into flames, capisce?

Newsday reports that Nassau District Judge Rhonda Fischer reiterated that "she will permit a defense expert witness, a psychiatrist, to testify at trial that a withdrawal from Zoloft, a widely prescribed antidepressant, could cause a person to become hostile and aggressive." On trial is Brandon Hampson, whose defense attorney says his client's Zoloft withdrawal was a "contributing factor—if not directly responsible" for his actions. Hampson allegedly tackled and then kicked his then-girlfriend in the head, face and back two years ago; defense attorney Eric Bernstein said, "This is not a joke or gimmick-type defense. This is very serious, very legitimate and is going to get a lot of traction. You're going to be seeing more of this, because it's real." (Hampson was convicted of assaulting another former girlfriend in 1995 and prosecutors say there's no evidence of him taking Zoloft back then.) The prosecution, which objected to allowing the Zoloft defense and the defense witness supporting it, has a Massachusetts psychiatrist ready to testify that the drug doesn't cause violence—and Zoloft maker Pfizer is paying the doctor $7,500 a day to testify.

That's right, bird on bird violence is happening in our own backyard: Brooklyn. WCBS reports that a man recently rescued a falcon from a troupe of pigeon bullies! While an adult peregrine falcon could have taken them all out, this one was just a baby, being chased and pecked at by the larger birds. "Morgan Pitts says the falcon was either abandoned by its mother or fell from its nest in his Greenpoint. The frightened chick is now in the care of veterinarians at The Animal Medical Center in Manhattan." One day he'll encounter those pigeons again and the tables will be turned. Until that showdown, however, check out the baby falcons that were born at three different city bridges earlier this year.

Yesterday, a 32-year-old man was shot while chasing two people he caught in the middle of a burglary in his Newark apartment. Karl Randolph had heard noises in the kitchen and thought it was one of his kids; the Star-Ledger reports, "He found the two men instead. One of them was holding a bag filled with cereal, Oreo cookies and juice." Randolph ran after the men, managing to catch up and walk one of them back towards the apartment complex, but then the suspect fired a gun. Now Randolph is at University Hospital (pictured), with a bullet still inside him, punctured lung and broken rib. Randolph's wife Nicole told the Star-Ledger they moved to Newark from Utica, NY, because the economic situation upstate was so terrible; Randolph found work as a cable TV technician and she enrolled in a nursing program. Now Nicole Randolph says moving to Newark "the worst mistake I have ever made. This is not the place to be when you have children. Just because you live in a place that's low-income, that doesn't mean you have to endure certain things."

A few more details from the violent altercation on Euclid Avenue and Fulton Street early Sunday morning. According to the Post (check out the photo), "The melee began after a young woman told her friends that she was pushed by another person" at a Cypress Hills party around 1:45 a.m. A witness-turned-victim told the Daily News, "Two girls started arguing and then a dude stepped in and just started waving a knife around...He was really drunk," prompting one of the girls to take out her knife, "That's when it got really bad. There was blood everywhere. I tried to stop the guy from going after the girl with a knife. What does a guy have to go after a girl for? That's when he cut me - two times in the hand." A total of nine people were wounded, including one man who was chased up the stairs at the Crescent Avenue subway station and another who, per the Post, "was stabbed in the side of the head [and] then proceeded to walk about 4 miles to Jamaica Hospital." The police tell us no arrests have been made and that the investigation is ongoing.

Officer Rodney Lewis and his partner Mark Bublin were responding to a domestic dispute in Ridgewood early Sunday morning when a suspect's handgun accidentally discharged during a scuffle, wounding Lewis under his left arm. According to WABC, it all started around 11 p.m. Saturday during a family party, when Marcello Campana, who identifies herself as a woman named Hazel, got into an argument with her reportedly violent boyfriend Carlos.

This police blotter story in the Brooklyn Paper has it all: violence, Brooklyn, hipsters, the NYPD, puke, and lots and lots of alcohol. According to police reports, earlier this month a 28-year-old and his girlfriend were enjoying one too many drinks at the Bushwick Country Club. The young man started vomiting at the bar at 2:45 a.m., but refused to leave upon the encouragement of all those around him, including staff. But when the vomit landed on one employee's shirt, things went "from disgusting to dangerous" (or really just a hybrid of the two). After being forced out of the venue, "a female bartender doused the victim in water and struck him in the head with a plastic bucket—leaving a laceration that required seven stitches. Then a gang of drinkers from the bar roughed up the victim on the sidewalk in front of the venue." Can a plastic bucket really do that much damage? Anyway, the real story here is that the PBR-fueled hipsters turned on one of their own. Is this the beginning of the end?

As his police force mourns the death of a police officer killed in the line of duty, Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey spoke about the recent number of violent incidents, "This department has suffered through several unusual occurrences over the last five days. These incidents are aberrations. This is a safe city."

To no one's surprise, Mayor Bloomberg, who is also founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is criticizing the proposed amendment that would allow people with guns registered in states that allow concealed weapons to keep their guns concealed when in NY State. PolitickerNY reports that Bloomberg called the amendment, offered by Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), "a terrible piece of legislation": The mayor "said that there had been no public hearings on the amendment, and said it was being attached to a military spending bill, providing senators an excuse to vote for it. Bloomberg said if the amendment stood alone, it would not pass, and that 'the hypocrisy of tying it to the safety our young men and women who are overseas is just so outrageous.'" Mayors Against Illegal Guns also ran an ad in USA Today against the amendment today.

Yesterday morning, a man wielding a knife with a 13-inch blade slashed a man just outside the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens. Construction worker Armando Ferreira was slashed in the back and in the arm and then ran into the station, only to be followed by attacker Armando Torres who also tried to slash Ferreira's friend.

Tomorrow afternoon Council Member Letitia James and schools within the JHS 117 /Francis Scott Key Building will hold a press conference on Student Safety Issues following incidents of harassment/violence that have become a common occurrence for students attending school at 300 Willoughby Avenue. Over the years students have become "victims of consistent harassment, jumping, and robberies, as they travel to and from the school building towards the G-train subway stop at Classon and Lafayette Avenues, as well as when taking surrounding buses," according to the press release. On April 30th, one student was jumped and when two fellow students defended him they were all attacked by nearly a dozen neighborhood residents. The assailants then followed the students into the school, resulting in school staff and school safety injuries, as well as broken glass doors. Hopefully the meeting can lead towards creating what they call a "safe corridor" for the students to travel to and from school.

Late last week, the police department revealed that first quarter 2009 crime was the lowest in over 40 years. According to the AP, "Through the end of March, overall crime dropped 13.5 percent from a year ago, down in every major category including homicides where there were 89, according to daily crime statistics from police. Last year there were 116 during the same period." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "I know there's an anticipation ... that crime would go up as a result of the economic turndown. We just haven't experienced that." Of course, these stats don't include this past weekend's violence: 14 people were shot yesterday (one woman, in her Fort Greene apartment, was hit by stray gunfire) while there were 13 shootings over the weekend in the Bronx (including one fatality apparently from one friend showing another his gun).

Another weekend, another violent incident at a nightclub. Earlier this morning, four people were stabbed at Chelsea nightclub Promenade, on West 28th between 7th and 8th Avenues. The AP reports, "Police say four men were stabbed during a dispute that broke out at about 4:30 Sunday morning," and WABC 7 has a few more details: "Two patrons and four of the club's workers got into some sort of scuffle as the patrons exited the club...A fight broke out, and police say one patron stabbed four of the workers." The victims are in stable conditions while two suspects were arrested. Charges are pending.

Just last year around this time word was circulating amongst the rapidly gentrifying streets of Williamsburg that gang warfare and machete attacks were on the rise. While the police presence in the area was heightened, the violence continued throughout the summer—and now that spring is in the air once again, it seems the gangs are done hibernating for the winter. A reader sent us in a tip, saying things are heating up between the Pretty Boy Goonies and the Trinitarios on the Southside. The local reported back saying that the community was on edge after this past Sunday night around 7 p.m. "there was a pipe fight on Bedford around South 4th Street that sent a kid to the hospital." And on Monday night at 6 p.m. "at the pizza place on South Fourth and Bedford, a bunch of guys went into a restaurant and caned a kid while he was on the phone to his mother." Just three hours after that, on South 3rd and Bedford, "a guy was beaten with bottles and a window was broken out of the building behind him." This is what happens when weapons are sold with $1.25 slices!

A 17-year-old teenage girl was fatally shot early yesterday morning when gunfire broke out at a party held at the Elks Plaza on Fulton St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Nyasia Pryear, who was shot in the neck, was an honor student at Nazareth Regional High School and her relatives say she was looking forward to attending college in the fall. Two other teens were injured in the melee.

The police released a photograph of the driver suspected of slashing a teen who put his bookbag on a BMW in the Bronx. Gabriel Quinones (pictured) remains in the hospital after being slashed on the face and neck; his lung was also punctured. The 16-year-old told the Daily News that he was just "leaning" on Kwame Ferguson's BMW, "I apologized, and he started cursing... I thought he was punching me, and I punched him back. I did not know I had been cut until my friend said, 'Oh, my God - you're bleeding!'" After a witness provided the license number for the BMW, police tracked down Ferguson, who told the police he would turn himself in later. Perhaps not that shockingly, Ferguson never did and the police are now asking for the public's help in finding him. UPDATE: Ferguson was arrested in Brooklyn today.

Councilwoman Diana Reyna of Brooklyn is considering a bill to ban the sale of machetes, The NY Times reports. For those familiar with the recent gang activity in Brooklyn, the Williamsburg area especially, Reyna's desire to ban the weapon should come as no surprise. This year there have been a number of machete attacks, allegedly all gang-related.

The Daily News has more information about the multiple stabbings in Times Square on Friday night. Apparently the opening of Saw V at the AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street had something to do with it: "Tension built after swarms of teens and young adults were trying to exit and enter theaters, including disappointed groups who couldn't get into sold-out shows." A police source called it "a tinderbox" and a witness described, "It seemed like hundreds of kids, roaming around in packs, screaming, yelling, running through the streets like wild animals." One of the victims, stabbed in the neck, is left partially paralyzed. The police, which made a few arrests, is having its gang unit investigate; a witness explained, "There were gangs all around the area, all over 42nd St. You can tell by their bandanas."

The NY Post reports that five people were stabbed in Times Square last night before midnight. In one incident, a man, who had just seen Saw V, was stabbed in the neck "in front of 250 W. 39th St., near Eighth Avenue." And the attackers were in a large group of people (possibly as many as 20). He was taken to Bellevue and is expected to survive. And in another apparently separate incident, four people were stabbed on 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue--a source said that the "dispute appeared to be gang related." There was no word on those victims' conditions. Be careful out there--the machete- and knife-wielding gangs have been causing trouble in Williamsburg and parts of Queens.

Is the economic free fall already leading to higher crime and degentrifying neighborhoods, as previously speculated? Brooklyn's 88th precinct, which includes Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is reporting that so far this year robberies have spiked 7.6 percent and burglaries are up 18.6 percent. And a cardboard box of bloody human remains discovered on fancy Washington Park isn't exactly putting residents at ease; one of them tells The Brooklyn Paper, “This hasn’t happened since the 1970s. Back then, I came out of my building one morning and found a body hanging from a lightpost."

Hey South Williamsburg residents, a heads up courtesy of The NY Post today: the gangs are still around, even if you haven't spotted a machete lately. The paper reports that the neighborhood has got its own "offshoot of the notorious Bloods gang" and they're going up against the machete-wielding Trinitarios. The Pretty Boy Goonies (aka the PBGs) are about a dozen strong, and allegedly have a continuous turf war going on with the Trinitarios in Rodney Park. Councilwoman Diana Reyna says, "This is not fist-fighting we are talking about. They are using machetes to stab and slash, and screwdrivers. There are brawls in the streets, in broad daylight, stopping traffic." Police have upped their presence in the area, on the streets and on rooftops, and have also installed a Sky Watch at Marcy and South 5th Street.

Neighbors weighed in about Astoria club Tahona, which had a violent early Sunday morning when a fight broke out during last call. Five people were stabbed: five teen males argued with other club patrons--though they walked away, the Post reports a Dodge Caravan came by, "several young men with knives jumped out," stabbing them, near Steinway Street and 35th Avenue. A witness told the Daily News, "Fifty kids brawling over there. Stomping at each other, girls hitting guys - it was crazy." Another told the Post, "I usually put my police scanner on at 4 a.m. to catch the fights. It's like a game every week." Apparently neighbors have been complaining about fighting, "clubgoers throwing glass bottles and blasting loud music in their cars."

This year Williamsburg has seen its fair share of stabbings and shootings, and in light of that "a number of local politicians and churches are sponsoring a prayer rally and concert to protest the recent spate of violence in the Southside." One of the latest crimes took place over the East River recently at the daylight drenched hour of 4:45 p.m. The Brooklyn Paper reported that "a gun-toting thug tried to mug a 28-year-old man as he walked across the Williamsburg Bridge on July 24, but the courageous victim wrestled the firearm away." The rally will take place tomorrow, August 2nd, at 5 p.m. at Continental Plaza on Roebling and S. 5th Street.

A 37-year veteran teacher is accused of punching and throttling a 12-yea-old student. Scott Antwork, 58, teaches at PS 54 in Richmond Hill and Queens DA Richard Brown says Antwork "punched 12-year-old Edgar Lopez in the head with a closed fist, placed him in a choke hold and then grabbed the student's right arm and pushed him into a table." Two students say that Lopez first punched Antwork. The teacher has been "reassigned" and is charged with third-degree assault, second-degree harassment and child endangerment.

On Wednesday night, 15-year-old Keyanna Jones was stabbed to death by when a dispute over line cutting at a Queens bus stop.