Thursday, November 20, 2014

Police Charge Teen in Hate Crime Attack, Seek Two Others


A teenager has been arrested in connection with an alleged anti-Semitic attack in Brooklyn Monday afternoon.


The 15-year-old is being charged with assault as a hate crime.


Police say they’re still looking for two other people.



They say the trio approached a 53-year-old man at the Marcy Avenue subway station in Williamsburg, made anti-Semitic statements and hit him in the head with an umbrella.


“It leaves for a very, very bad feeling of social morale in the city and on the subway,” said one person at the Marcy Avenue station. “Riding the subway should not be a life-or-death situation.”


“It’s pretty unbelievable to me that there’s this kind of bigotry that’s happening, and it’s really upsetting as person, as a minority, that these things are still happening, and I feel like I have to kind of watch my back,” said another.


According to a community activist, the victim is a rabbi visiting from Israel and was on his way to receive cancer treatment.


The victim was not seriously hurt.


Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit http://ift.tt/17IHIZe.





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CUNY to spend $35M over three years on remediation classes


New York’s public-high-school students are so ill- prepared for college that the city is investing an extra $ 35 million in remedial programs to help them make the grade.


Officials at the City University of New York say they’ll expand a booster program to serve 9,000 additional incoming freshmen at seven colleges over the next three years.


As of this year, 4,420 students are getting the extra help.


Only 32 percent of city high-school graduates met CUNY standards this year, according to Department of Education figures, up 1 percent from 2013.


CUNY Chancellor James Milliken touted the university’s partnership with the city, but said the public-school system must “get better at” educating students.


“Obviously, when 80 percent of students who come to community colleges are not fully college-ready and have some remediation [requirements], we have work to do on this,” Milliken said at an Association for a Better New York breakfast Wednesday.


“We need more of this connectivity,” he added. “We’re joined at the hip of the New York City public schools.”


CUNY launched the remediation program in 2007 during the Bloomberg administration to prep students seeking associates degrees who couldn’t pass at least one required course in math, reading or writing in high school.


Students who enrolled in the program were more likely to stay in college, add more credits and graduate more quickly, according to a 2013 study.


DOE officials said the graduation rate is actually double for those in the program than for students fending on their own.


“There is a large need for programs like these to make sure that students who graduated without the skills needed to succeed at the next level are prepared,” said an official.


University officials expect that the program will serve 22 percent of all CUNY freshmen by 2017.


Nearly 275,000 students enrolled at CUNY schools this fall, a record and an increase of more than 40 percent since 2000, according to university officials.





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Bratton gets Billy clubbed with 47% approval rating in poll


Maybe he should stop taking orders from Al Sharpton.


Police Commissioner Bill Bratton’s approval rating is in the toilet at 47 percent — compared with predecessor Ray Kelly’s stellar 75 percent rating when the use of stop-and-frisk was near its peak, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.


Quinnipiac University polling expert Mickey Carroll pointed the finger at Sharpton and Mayor de Blasio for their constant criticism of the NYPD and its stop-and-frisk policy.


“Sharpton is a polarizing figure, very divisive and he has a high profile now,” Carroll said.


“When de Blasio ran, he was knocking stop-and-frisk, and then [Eric] Garner got killed on Staten Island in a [police] chokehold,” Carroll told The Post.


A law-enforcement source also said Sharpton has had a major influence on de Blasio.


“He’s part of the framework of the de Blasio administration. Under Kelly and [ex-Mayor Mike] Bloomberg, Sharpton couldn’t get to first base. He was a non-entity. Now he’s palling around with Obama at the White House. And he’s very anti-cop, as we all know,” the source said.


The source also cited the embarrassing “summit” at City Hall on July 31, when Sharpton sat on a dais and lectured Bratton and de Blasio about police policy.


“He sat in with the mayor and police commissioner during that press conference and he embarrassed [Bratton], telling him how to run his department essentially,” the source said.


In a Quinnipiac poll released in January 2013, Kelly scored his highest approval rating ever, 75 percent, when stop-and-frisk was still a major tactic.


In the new poll, 35 percent of voters disapproved of Bratton.


While Bratton’s popularity rating is the lowest for an NYPD commissioner in 12 years, New Yorkers had a more positive view of the police, approving of the job cops are doing citywide by 54 percent to 39 percent.


And huge percentages of voters of all races still believe crime is a big problem, despite record- low rates for murder and many other offenses.


A total of 86 percent of New York City voters, including 82 percent of whites, 87 percent of blacks and 93 percent of Hispanics, say crime is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem, the poll found.


The de Blasio administration defended Bratton.


“Mayor de Blasio knows that Commissioner Bratton is the finest police leader around, and he is working with the commissioner and the NYPD to continue to bring police and community together, while also keeping New York City the safest big city in the world,” spokesman Phil Walzak said.





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Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Man stabbed in the stomach at his UES apartment


A man was viciously stabbed in the stomach at his Upper East Side apartment building Wednesday night, police said.


The victim, who cops describe as in his 20’s, was with his girlfriend when another man confronted him inside of the Isaac Houses at 1830 1st Avenue, and stabbed him once in the stomach and then again in the arm just after 8 p.m., police sources said.


“He was bleeding real bad, He was cut from arm to bone,” said eyewitness Yolanda Abbott, 34, who lives in the building. “He was holding his guts and screaming.”


The man was rushed to Presbyterian Hospital unconscious but he is expected to live, according to authorities.


No arrests have been made, police said.





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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Daily Blotter


Brooklyn


A 27-year-old woman was sexually abused on a Williamsburg street, police sources said.


The victim had just left the Sweet Science bar on Johnson and Graham avenues on Nov. 9 at about 2:30 a.m. when she was approached by the fiend, police said.


The attacker grabbed her by the neck and covered her mouth before scratching her face, sources said.


As the woman tried to escape his clutches, the creep reached up her dress and touched her genitals, police sources said.


The Brooklyn Special Victims Unit is investigating the incident as a felony sex abuse case.


A suspect description was not immediately available.




Manhattan


A subway conductor was hit with a hurled object while his southbound No. 1 train barreled through Tribeca, sources said.


An assailant tossed a box of wooden coffee stirrers at the moving train, hitting the conductor in the face at the Canal Street station on Nov. 10 at about 10:35 p.m., law enforcement sources said.


The 47-year-old victim suffered minor cuts, authorities said.


The attacker fled on foot and was last seen wearing a red jacket. He is believed to be in his 20s.




A woman was arrested for driving drunk in Washington Heights after ramming into a marked police car that was pulled off to the side on the Harlem River Drive, police said.


Margaret Young, 57, of The Bronx, was heading northbound on the highway at about 7:30 p.m. Monday when she slammed into the patrol car that had stopped to help a disabled motorist near the West 178th Street exit, police said.


Young and the cop suffered minor injuries. Both were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in stable condition.


Young was charged with DWI and colliding with an emergency vehicle, police said.


The driver has no prior arrests, police sources said.




A bumbling bandit tried but failed to rob a bank while claiming to have a gun in Tribeca, police sources said.


The suspect allegedly walked into the Valley National Bank on Franklin Street just before 4 p.m. on Nov. 12 and passed a 25-year-old teller a note stating, “I have a gun. Put the money in the bag.”


Then he barked, “Give me all hundreds. I ain’t playing with you, yo, give me all hundreds. I ain’t playing. I have a gun,” sources added.


The teller hesitated and the goon fled empty-handed, sources said.


The bandit was last seen wearing a black jacket, a skullcap and white sneakers while going north on Church Street, police sources said.


He stands about 5-foot-11.


No one in the bank was injured.




Cops have released additional images of a man in a religious headdress — and a shirt open to his navel — who is one of three suspects in a purse theft, cops said.


The trio sidled up to a 26-year-old woman seated at a bar inside the Hotel Chantelle at Ludlow and Delancey streets on the Lower East Side on Sept. 20, police said.


The victim’s bag was hanging on her chair just before the trio disappeared into the bathroom, where the purse was later found, cops added.


The woman’s phone and MetroCard were gone.


Surveillance video shows something in the hands of the headdress-wearing suspect, police said.




Staten Island


A Woodrow man was arrested after sending his teen son to get illegal pills from his car, authorities said.


Carmelo Salvaggio, 36, told his 14-year-old son to go to the vehicle, which was parked on Bloomingdale Road and Marisa Circle on Nov. 11 at about 9:55 a.m., a Criminal Court complaint states.


The son retrieved 50 pain killers, acetaminophen hydrocodone, which were inside a plastic bag, police sources said.


“I sent him to the car to get the pills. I don’t have a pill bottle,” Salvaggio allegedly told police.


It’s unclear how the cops learned of the incident, but Salvaggio was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of controlled substance.


The case against his son, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, will be heard in Family Court.




A former firefighter was busted for having a gun in his van and three more firearms in his Tottenville home, authorities said.


Glen Midbo, 56, was caught with a loaded .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun and 10 cartridges of ammunition inside a tackle box in his van on Veterans Road West and Arthur Kill Road last Saturday at about 2:10 p.m., a Criminal Court complaint states.


A search of his home turned up three rifles and one shotgun under his bed, police sources said.


Midbo was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a fire arm, possession of ammunition and unlawful disposition of rifles or shotguns.





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MTA Activates Winter Operations


The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is activating its winter operations plan for the season.


As part of the plan, the agency uses specialized weather forecasts to help transit officials adjust staffing and prepare snow-fighting equipment as storms approach.


For buses this year, the MTA has new tires and chains, as well improved communications equipment.


It also has a plan to increase planning and collaboration with the Sanitation Department.


Nearly 220 miles of subway tracks that run outdoors will also be winterized, and scraper shoes will be used on some trains to reduce icing on the third rail.


The MTA activates its winter plan every November.


It affects subways, buses and the Staten Island Railway.





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Hit-and-run driver slams into off-duty cop, daughter


A hit-and-run driver struck a detective in Brooklyn on Tuesday, led cops on a 4-mile chase and then slammed into another car — injuring an off-duty NYPD sergeant and her 14-year-old daughter, who is in critical condition, police sources said.


The off-duty cop and her daughter were trapped inside the wreckage and had to be extricated with hydraulic tools.


“They were all very bad. They were hurt,” said witness Randi Raymond, 55.


The unidentified driver “looked panicked” as he tried to run away from the second crash scene on Avenue U near Stuart Street — but was quickly caught and arrested, a witness said.


“It was chaos, pure chaos,” said the witness.


The incident began around 2:50 p.m. at East 42nd Street and Farragut Road in East Flatbush, cops said.


Detectives from the Brooklyn Robbery Squad were staking out a van that fit the description of a suspect vehicle when two men came out of a nearby pharmacy and got into the vehicle, sources said.


Cops tried to stop the van when the driver took off and ran over one detective’s foot, sources said.


The van then sped away, and was racing along Avenue U when it veered into oncoming traffic, clipped a Nissan and tore off its rear bumper — with the impact sending both vehicles hurtling across the street and onto the sidewalk, cops said.


A search was underway for the two van passengers.


Additional reporting by Dana Sauchelli





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Police Apprehend Man in Connection with Fatal Subway Push


Police say a man is in custody in connection with the death of a man pushed in front of a subway Sunday.


Police apprehended 34-year-old Kevin Darden as a person of interest in the death of 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok, who was pushed in front of a D train at the 167th street station.


Kwok died when the train hit him.


Police picked Darden up in the Bronx around 6 p.m. Tuesday.


Investigators say the attack appears to have been unprovoked, and there is no indication that Darden and Kowk knew each other.


Police are also naming Darden as a suspect in an assault earlier this month that happened on the platform at West 4th Street.


The victim in that case went to hospital briefly with hand and back injuries.





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Jerusalem Synagogue Attack Victim Had Ties to City


The New York City Police Department is keeping a close eye on synagogues around the city after an attack in Jerusalem left four people dead during a morning prayer service.


Israeli police have identified three American victims killed in the attack in a synagogue in Jerusalem.


An NYPD patrol car sits outside a synagogue on Manhattan's East Side.

An NYPD patrol car sits outside a synagogue on Manhattan’s East Side.







One of them was a rabbi with ties to Yeshiva University here in the city.


Aryeh Kupinsky, Kalmen Levin, and Moshe Twersky died after two Palestinian men armed with meat cleavers and a gun stormed the synagogue during morning prayers.


Twersky’s father is the founder of Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies. His brother is the dean at Yeshiva University’s Theological Seminary in the city.


The men were killed along with a fourth person, who is identified as British.


The attackers were shot dead by police.


This is the deadliest incident Jerusalem has seen in years, and Israeli police are calling it a terrorist act.


It comes amid soaring tensions over a disputed holy site in the city.





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Plowed! Drunk man tries to commute home on stolen bulldozer


A New Jersey man took getting “plowed” to new heights when he got drunk and tried to commute home on a bulldozer — slamming into just about everything that crossed his path, police sources said.


Christopher Russell, 30, claimed he was cold, so he swiped the ride and tried to drive it from West Hudson Park in Harrison to Newark at around 9 p.m. on Friday, the New Jersey Journal reported.


Instead, he flattened a tree, three benches, and a water fountain — before and slamming into a parked car, police sources said.


Cops, who received several calls about the rogue bulldozer, found Russel climbing out of it in the middle of Davis Lane near Cross Street, the sources said.


He had left the keys in the bulldozer.


He also tore up grass, a bridge parapet and left a zig-zag of tractor tracks in the park, the sources said.


“He said he was cold and was trying to ride it home to the Ironbound section of Newark,” Harrison Police Capt. Mike Green said.


Russell was charged with a DWI, criminal mischief, leaving the scene of an accident and theft.


His bail was set at $ 20,000.





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Judge scolds WTC BASE jumpers, won’t toss case


A Manhattan judge blasted a crew of BASE jumpers ​who parachut​ed off the new ​1 ​World Trade Center tower last ​year for their “reckless” and “unsafe” behavior that potentially endangered the lives of others.


“Defendants thrill-seeking conduct is nothing more than inexcusable self-indulgence,” wrote Justice Charles Solomon in his decision denying the defense’s motion to dismiss the case. “They were completely aware their actions were unlawful and chose to disregard the law, clearly putting their own interests above those of society.”


He continued, “A dismissal would have no effect on curbing defendants’ future behavior and might even encourage others to try to replicate what these defendants did.”


Daredevils James Brady, Marko Markovich and Andrew Rossig are heading to trial January 15.


They face felony burglary raps for sneaking through a hole in a fence at 1 World Trade Center and plunging from the top of the 1,776-foot-tall tower Sept 30 , 2013 in the early morning hours. Their lookout Kyle Hartwell was also charged.


Solomon wrote that the defendants exhibited “a callous disregard for the safety of the community” and took offense to their claim they did a service to New York by exposing security lapses at the World Trade Center.


He also rejected the defendants’ attempts to minimize the risk their actions posed to others, pointing out that Brady’s parachute became tangled in a traffic light when he landed on the West Side Highway.


But Brady insists his parachute merely brushed passed the stoplight.


The judge also cites entries in Rossig’s diary that describe his other jumps and their dangers.


“Defendant Rossig’s BASE jumping diary is replete with mishaps during his jumps, including landing in trees, hitting power and cable lines, landing in water, and hits or near misses with various objects,” Solomon writes. “Rossig’s diary also references the impact of his behavior. In one instance he writes, “laughing china woman in shock” and in another “swooped the power lines. Scared the innocents.”’


Rossig’s attorney Tim Parlatore disagreed with Solomon’s characterization.


“There’s nothing in here to indicate that anyone was ever in danger, maybe some bystanders were surprised. If the only thing he’s endangering is himself where’s the crime in that?” he asked.


“We expect when a jury hears both sides of the story not just one side that they will see this was not the reckless act that the judge thought it was.”


The adrenaline junkies were busted Feb. 17 , after cops tracked the foursome down through surveillance video that captured the extraordinary leap and their getaway car.


After the DA began its investigation, the daredevils posted the helmet cam video memorializing the feat on YouTube.


The four defendants face raps for burglary, reckless endangerment and BASE jumping.





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Straphangers Blast Idea of Backpack Ban on Subways


Straphangers are reacting to an MTA board member’s surprising comments about backpacks on the subway.


Charles Moerdler suggested a backpack ban during a board meeting Monday, leading many to wonder how it would be possible to bring anything anywhere if you weren’t allowed to carry a bag.


He later backtracked and presented the more practical viewpoint that people are often disrespectful with the bags they carry onto trains.


“There is nothing obnoxious about a backpack. What is obnoxious about it is when the person on a train that comes to a sudden stop, or the person going on in the loading, and the person hits you in the kisser with it, that’s no fun. And if you are short, or you are elderly, you’re gonna have pain. And that’s unnecessary infliction of pain,” Moerdler said.


Riders we spoke with say they’re all for courtesy in the subway — but they better get to keep their backpacks.


“Certain people they don’t follow the etiquette, you know, so you’re getting banged, you’re getting hit all over the place. So I totally understand why,” said one subway rider.


“People go to work, gym, travel, you could also go to the airport on the train. So it makes sense to have a backpack,” said another subway rider.


“The thing I don’t like is, when they have their backpacks on the crowded train that’s the thing with me, you know. It’s crowded. Take your bookbag off,” noted a third rider.


The MTA plans to roll out a public awareness campaign next year urging riders to take their backpacks off while on the subway.





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Cardinal Dolan Hopes to Show Off City to Pope


Pope Francis confirms he is coming to America next year, and there’s a good chance he’ll pay a visit to the city. NY1′s Michael Herzenberg filed this report.


“This is what I want him to see,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan.


Dolan says he wants the pope to see the church and America in action, thanking Goya foods’ for donating 150 tons of food to catholic charities.


Pope Francis might actually get to see the New York Archdiocese’s distribution network.


“We don’t have it official that he’s coming here to New York. I got a good hunch that he is. He has told me personally that he knows of my invitation. He would like to come and he hopes to be able to, but we don’t have any official word yet. When we do, believe me, I’m going to be calling you and shouting it from the rooftops,” Dolan said.


The cardinal says his eminence would likely spend a day in the city, half of it at the United Nations, where he would address the general assembly.


The Pope has only officially announced a visit to the City of Brotherly Love, however.


“I would like to confirm that, God willing, in September 2015, I will travel to Philadelphia for the eighth World Meeting of Families,” Francis said through an interpreter.


This will be the first time that the World Meeting of Families—which is held every three years—will be in the U.S.


“Nowadays, we cannot speak of the conservative family or the progressive family; family is family,” Francis said.


Pope Francis has not been to the U.S. as pontiff. Pope Benedict visited in 2008 and tens of thousands of faithful flocked to him.


Vatican experts say a New York visit is one of a kind.


“The one place in the world that embodies that worldwide church is New York City,” said expert Brian O’Dwyer.


Cardinal Dolan says he hopes this Pontiff will get to experience that as well.


“I’m looking forward, if he comes, please God, to show off New York,” Dolan said.


Cardinal Dolan expects the pope to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral and says renovations will be 95 percent complete.





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Monday, November 17, 2014

Verrazano Bridge toll may jump to $16


Drivers could soon be facing a painful $ 16 cash toll to make the journey from Brooklyn to Staten Island.


MTA officials are considering yet another hike on the Verrazano Bridge that would make it one of the highest fees for a crossing in the country.


The proposal will be voted on by the MTA board in January. The board could choose an alternative that would sock only truckers with the toll hikes.


If car drivers are hit with an increase, rates for most E-ZPass users who live outside of Staten Island would go from $ 10.66 to $ 11.08 for the Verrazano.


Staten Island residents who use an E-ZPass more than twice a month would see increases from $ 6 to $ 6.24.


“Every chance they get, they squeeze us for another nickel,” said Frank Duffy, 39, of Staten Island. “Every chance they get!”


The MTA may also raise the tolls for East River crossings such as the RFK/Triborough Bridge and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel if the board approves the rate increase for cars. Most E-ZPass users would see the toll on those crossings go up from $ 5.33 to $ 5.54, while the cash fee would increase 50 cents to $ 8.


Board member Allen Cappelli of Staten Island said he would oppose any hikes and wants tolls added to most free East River crossings and have rates cut on MTA crossings.


“I will not vote for an increase in tolls, which are already too high until a system is implemented to spread the burden fairly on drivers throughout the entire region,” Cappelli said.


The Verrazano Bridge is currently $ 15 for westbound trips.



Staten Islanders said they hoped lawmakers would fight any price jumps.


“They keep saying how they want to bring tourists here,” said Paul Bruno, 37. “The toll is a major deterrent to any potential visitors with a car.”


Board members will also vote on whether to raise fares by 2 percent to 6 percent on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, although the increase on lines will vary.


Weekend Metro-North and LIRR trips within city limits would go up by a quarter, the MTA added.


The MTA is also considering raising subway and bus prices to $ 2.75, up from $ 2.50.


Riders can share their feelings about the proposed hikes at eight hearings the MTA will hold between Dec. 1 and Dec. 9.





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Arrest Made in Connection With Midtown Heist Case



Police have made an arrest in connection with a heist at a jewelry store in Manhattan last week.


Police say charges are pending for 37-year-old Rondu Frisby.


Police sources say he may be a friend of the owner’s son.


Thieves hit the Watch Standard Jewelry Store on the eighth floor of a building on West 47th Street on Tuesday.


Police say one man posed as a delivery man to get buzzed into the store while another served as a lookout.


Once inside, police say the first robber pulled out a gun and demanded the items inside an open safe.





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Arrest Made in Connection With Midtown Heist Case



Police have made an arrest in connection with a heist at a jewelry store in Manhattan last week.


Police say charges are pending for 37-year-old Rondu Frisby.


Police sources say he may be a friend of the owner’s son.


Thieves hit the Watch Standard Jewelry Store on the eighth floor of a building on West 47th Street on Tuesday.


Police say one man posed as a delivery man to get buzzed into the store while another served as a lookout.


Once inside, police say the first robber pulled out a gun and demanded the items inside an open safe.





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Arrest Made in Connection With Midtown Heist Case



Police have made an arrest in connection with a heist at a jewelry store in Manhattan last week.


Police say charges are pending for 37-year-old Rondu Frisby.


Police sources say he may be a friend of the owner’s son.


Thieves hit the Watch Standard Jewelry Store on the eighth floor of a building on West 47th Street on Tuesday.


Police say one man posed as a delivery man to get buzzed into the store while another served as a lookout.


Once inside, police say the first robber pulled out a gun and demanded the items inside an open safe.





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Subway driver laments of push victim: ‘nothing I could do’


The subway motorman at the controls when a lunatic pushed a man in front his train said he frantically slammed on the brakes — but the 100-ton train could not stop before striking the airborne victim and killing him.


“I see a body flying across the tracks. I knew that it wasn’t an ordinary jump on the tracks. The guy didn’t go straight down, he was actually in the air,” James Muriel told The Post on Monday.


“I slammed the brakes when he was in the air. By the time I got to him he had just fallen onto the tracks, there was just nothing you can do. I need 300-400 feet to get a train to stop. It’s a 100-ton train.”


Muriel said Wai Kuen Kwok’s distraught wife, Yow Ho Lee, ran over to him and cried uncontrollably into his chest.


“She spoke to me in broken English. She said, ‘Help me! Help me! Help me. Call someone.’” He said. “I told her police and EMs are in route.”


The Poughkepsie man said he – and several passengers — all cried together after the tragedy.


“By the time I got to him he had just fallen onto the tracks — there was just nothing you can do. I was in shock,” said Muriel, 53, a 16-year train engineer. “I would like to apologize to the family. There was nothing I could have done. I used to live in the same neighborhood as the victim.


“I moved away to the suburbs because of crimes like this.”



Wai Kuen KwokPhoto: Facebook



Muriel said he was interviewed by 20 detectives and taken to a medical assessment center for a drug test.


Kwok, 61, was shoved in front of a southbound D train at the East 167th Street station in Highbridge about 8:45 a.m. Sunday.


“I just wish that people learn not to stand so close to the edge of the platform,” Muriel said. “People should always have their backs against their walls.”


NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Vincent Fox on Monday expressed sympathy to the victim’s family.


“Our deepest condolences to the family of Wai Kuen Kwok,” he said. “We’ve been working constantly throughout the night. It will be a 24/7 operation until we identify who did this.”


The NYPD is offering a $ 2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.


Anyone with information should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit http://ift.tt/17IHIZe.





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MTA Unveils Proposed Fare Hike Breakdown


The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday unveiled proposals to increase fares and tolls by four percent over the next two years.


Under the first proposal, the base fare increases by 25 cents, and the bonus amount is increased from five percent to 11 percent when putting $ 5.50 or more on a MetroCard.


Under the second proposal the base fare for cash, Single-Ride Tickets and Pay-Per-Ride MetroCards remains unchanged, but the bonus for putting $ 5 or more on a MetroCard is eliminated.


In both proposals, the cost of a 30-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard increases by $ 4.50 and the cost of a 7-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard by $ 1.


The MTA board will review the proposal and the increases will be the subject of public hearings in December.


Fare increases would take effect in March 2015.





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Shopper sues Gap outlet after ‘humiliating racial profiling’


A Queens man ​says he was ​labeled a shoplifter because he is black and then humiliated after a​ ​Gap store staffer accused ​​him of stealing and forced ​him ​to pull down his pants​ in the middle of ​the bustling ​Woodbury Common ​outlet mall.

​​

Rohan Barnswell was at the store with a female friend in June and walked out after not making any purchases, according to ​his Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed Monday.


But after only a few steps, he was suddenly surrounded by a swarm of mall cops on Segways and bicycles, according to the suit.


With shoppers looking on, a Gap staffer loudly accused Barnswell of stealing items from the retailer and demanded that he lift up his shirt, according to the suit.


The Gap employee “interrogated Plaintiff in front of numerous customers who stopped to see the commotion,” court papers state.


“Finding no merchandise under his shirt, the Gap employee then ordered plaintiff to remove his trousers also in public and in front of numerous people shopping at Woodbury Common,” the suit states.


“After the Gap employee forced him to remove his pants, The Gap employee caused plaintiff significant anxiety by circling around plaintiff to see his backside when his pants were removed.”


After failing to find any stolen items on Barnswell, the employee sheepishly apologized and walked off, court papers state.


“Sorry,” the unnamed employee said after being ordered to apologize by Barnswell’s friend, according to the suit.


“Plaintiff was unlawfully racially targeted, stopped and detained by Defendants’ employees,” the suit states. “Defendants and their agents and/or employees focus their surveillance on minority customers to the exclusion of white customers.”


Barnswell is suing the Gap and Woodbury Common for an undisclosed sum.


The suit comes after a string of high profile lawsuits by black shoppers against retailers including Barney’s and Macy’s for falsely accusing them of theft.





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Rachel Noerdlinger called to Gracie Mansion after son’s arrest


Embattled City Hall aide Rachel Noerdlinger spent more than an hour behind closed doors in Gracie Mansion on Sunday in the wake of her son Khari’s arrest at a notorious drug spot — as new details emerged about the teen’s history of run-ins with the law.


Khari, 17, was busted in 2011 in an Upper West Side mugging in which a victim was robbed of $ 50 headphones, law-enforcement sources said.


According to the sources, the then-14-year-old was charged with second-degree robbery.


At the time, his mother — the $ 170,000-a-year chief of staff for First Lady Chirlane McCray — was the Rev. Al Sharpton’s spokeswoman.


Khari’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said the robbery is not on Khari’s rap sheet.


“We confirm there was a mugging arrest but we deny that a mugging took place,” Lichtman said.


“It ended with a youthful-offender disposition, meaning there is no conviction.”


In addition, Khari was busted earlier for trespassing inside the same Washington Heights apartment building where he was caught Friday with three pals, two of whom were nabbed with small amounts of pot, sources said. The date of the first trespassing case was unclear.


And he got a “deferred disposition” in a disorderly-conduct case in his hometown of Edgewater, NJ, where a law-enforcement source said Khari was in a group of youths busted for running wild.


On Sunday, Khari — who in the past has tweeted anti-white and anti-cop sentiments, including, “I’m convinced all white people are the devil’’ and “Pigs always killing people’’ — declined to speak with reporters at the apartment he shares with his mom and her boyfriend, convicted killer and drug trafficker Hassaun McFarlane.


A spokesman for Mayor de Blasio said Rachel Noerdlinger went to the mayoral mansion for a “regularly scheduled meeting.”


Phil Walzak wouldn’t say what the meeting was about or with whom Noerdlinger spoke. He insisted that evening and weekend meetings “aren’t uncommon.”


On Saturday, Noerdlinger called de Blasio to let him know about her son’s trespassing arrest “as an FYI,” Lichtman said.


Noerdlinger was stone-faced and refused to comment as she drove away from Gracie Mansion in her silver Mercedes.





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Police Await ME Report on Three-Year-Old’s Death


A three-year-old boy is dead after police find him unresponsive in a Bronx home.


A small memorial for Poseidon Quinones’ was set up last night outside his grandmother’s home.


Authorities say just before 2 a.m. Saturday morning she saw the young boy wasn’t breathing.


Poseidon was taken to Lincoln Hospital and pronounced dead.


We spoke to a neighbor who says he was awake when police responded to the scene.


“I heard a woman screaming like at 2 a.m. in the morning and then a lot of fire trucks, emergency crews. That was basically it. I woke up, I looked out the window, but I couldn’t see much because of the fire trucks, but it’s very sad to hear that, this happening around this area. I pray for the family,” he said.


Police say they’ve questioned the grandmother but they don’t suspect any foul play.





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More people are riding the subway during off hours


More people are riding the subway during non-rush hours, new data released by the MTA shows.


Just 39 percent of straphangers said that they only ride the rails during the morning and evening rush — down from 49 percent in 2010, the MTA’s 2014 Customer Satisfaction Survey revealed.


“While traditional rush-hour ridership is holding steady, the highest subway ridership growth has come outside of 9-to-5 commuting,” said MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.


“More and more customers are working non-traditional hours and riding the subway as their first choice to get around town outside of work.”


Subway crime has also gone down a lot, making people more comfortable to ride at night, an MTA source added.


Millenials, or people born in the eighties and nineties, are also using cars less and relying more on public transit.


Meanwhile, Metro-North riders’ satisfaction dropped from 93 to 73 percent, according to another MTA survey.


The drop comes after a year where the railroad had five accidents in New York City and Connecticut, including a derailment that killed four people in the Bronx.


Riders were frustrated with the railroad’s on-time performance, schedules, and communications with Metro-North– but liked the ‘Quiet Cars’ that were added onto its train lines in 2012.


“This year’s survey results are sobering but not surprising given the challenges Metro-North has faced during the last 18 months,” said its president Joseph Giulietti, who said the agency was being rebuilt.





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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Fourth Annual Brooklyn Marathon Held in Prospect Park


The fourth annual Brooklyn marathon kicked off Sunday morning in Prospect Park. NY1′s Tara Lynn Wagner filed this report.


“Runners take your marks!” the announcer said, and with that, a crowd of 500 athletes took off around the lower loop of Prospect Park. They’d complete that loop a total of three times plus six circles around the entire park.


For some, it was their first marathon. For others, just another 26.2 miles under their belt.


“My goal today is to get past the finish line and get it done,” said one runner.


“I run one a year. I started running when I was 40. I’m now 71,” another runner said.


It’s the 33rd marathon for Jenny Wilkes and 15th for her fiancée, Greg Massanelli. The couple, from Arkansas, met at a race three years ago and will be running down the aisle to get married on Wednesday.


“So we decided to wear wedding outfits for the race,” Wilkes said.


Compared to that other, more famous New York marathon, this one’s a little more laid back—both among the runners and those cheering them on, like this group that brought an air mattress.


“We want to cheer in comfort and we thought we could provide a little respite for the runners. After they climb the hill, they can come take a little roll in the hay!” one spectator said.


That hill is a long steady incline that runners have to tackle six times. It’s no wonder that 51-year-old Lawrence Warriner of Toronto could barely stand as he crossed the finish line, his first time winning a marathon.


“It feels good, but it was tiring. It was a tough race,” Warriner said.


The first female to finish, Kelly Gillen, is a familiar face at this event.


“I won it in 2011 and I kept wanting to come back. And I came back and had such a great race,” Gillen said.


This could be the final year runners complete this race in this park. Organizers hope to bring the Brooklyn Marathon out onto the streets of the borough next November.


“I think we’ve got a great plan that can do an incredible amount of good for Brooklyn and New York City at large,” says Steve Lastoe.


“It would be a boon to the local economy, to local store owners, merchants, to neighborhoods. It will put Brooklyn even more on the map, more publicity, more buzz,” says Carlo Scissura of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.


The city would have to sign off on that, but organizers hope one day this will be the second largest race in the world.





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Another tourist climbs Brooklyn Bridge to snap picture


A picture-snapping French tourist scrambled up the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday to take a picture — the third security breach in a year at the famed span and top terror target, authorities said.


Police sources said Jonathan Souid, 23, climbed over a 4-foot fence and managed to get 20 feet up a bridge cable on the Brooklyn side before an NYPD cop on foot patrol spotted him over the Manhattan-bound bridge.


The officer told Souid to get down and he complied, and police then took him into custody.


Souid is being questioned at the 84th Precinct.


Souid came to the US from France on Nov. 6 and planned to fly back home today, a police source said.


In July, in a massive security breach, two German artists got past the cops and swapped American flags atop the bridge for a white flag as part of a stunt.


The stolen American flags have since been returned to New York after the artists dropped them off at the US embassy in Germany.


A Russian daredevil then climbed to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge to take a picture Aug. 24.


The NYPD said after the snafus that they would have cops be posted where the bridge’s suspension cables meet the security gates.





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Man Dies After Being Pushed in Front of D Train


Police say they believe a 61-year-old man was pushed to his death in front of a D Train in the Bronx, as his wife looked on.


Police say Wai Kuen Kwok was waiting with his wife at the East 167th Street station shortly before 8:45 a.m. Sunday when he was pushed.


They say the man who pushed him then fled the scene.


Witnesses and neighbors say they’re disturbed by the news.


“They were going frantic themselves, the MTA workers, and they were whispering amongst themselves which freaked everyone else out at 145th. So, basically, it was really chaotic,” one witness said.


“I’ve been living here a long time and I’ve never seen nothing like that happen. I just feel bad for him,” said another.





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Man fatally struck by NYC subway ‘was pushed’


A man who was fatally struck by subway in The Bronx Sunday and police are investigating whether or not the victim was pushed off the platform, law enforcement sources said.


The unidentified man was hit by a southbound D train at Grand Concourse and east 167th Street in Highbridge around 8:50 a.m., authorities said.


The man was pronounced dead at the scene, cops said.


Police are investigating whether the man was pushed onto the tracks, sources said.


There are no arrests at this time.





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Man Faces Charges After Abused Two-Year-Old Dies


A two-year-old girl is dead after succumbing to injuries she sustained during months of abuse and now her step-father is facing charges.


Thaiya Spruill-Smith was taken off life support Saturday afternoon.


Police say she was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday after her stepfather, David Adams, violently shook her.


It happened at their home in Brownsville, where he lived with Thaiya’s mom.


According to court documents, Adams admitted to the actions. He is now facing reckless assault and child endangerment charges, but those charges could be upgraded.


Police say there was a similar incident last month, when Thaiya was also shaken.


Now, residents are wondering whether authorities could have done more to protect her.


“I’ve been hearing noises so there wasn’t surprised,” one neighbor said.


“I saw maybe three police cars and a couple of DT cars, but I did see them bring the suspect in handcuffs. Like I said, I didn’t know what was going on. I was very upset. I was like, ‘My god, that poor baby was two years old, didn’t have a chance to grow,” said another.


“Thai, she was like the sweetest little girl ever, like you wouldn’t have problems with her ever,” said Shayne Smith, Thaiya’s uncle. “She was very smart—very, very smart.”


In addition to police, the city’s Administration for Child Services is investigating.





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Natural History Museum Exhibit Gives Glimpse Inside Natural Disasters


We know first hand the effects of natural disasters here in New York City. Now, an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History is giving visitors an up close view of them—in a controlled environment. NY1′s Bree Driscoll filed this report.


Build your own volcano, or get a 360-degree view of what it looks like in a tornado.


It’s all part of Nature’s Fury, a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.


“It is about the science of natural disasters. And it’s all about understanding this very dynamic earth of ours,” says curator Jenny Newell.


The exhibition feeds on our curiosity with natural disasters.


“I think it is a natural fascination with exactly the things they have no control over but also what happens to other people,” one visitor says.


“I just think it is amazing—the power of Mother Nature on display here,” another says.


“How the lava flows inside,” says another.


Part of this exhibition focuses on Hurricane Sandy and its impact on our area. It includes an interactive map which lets you explore the storm’s damage neighborhood by neighborhood.


For the Bertouch family, that part of the exhibit brought a lot of memories flooding back—of the night their daughter was born.


“Sophie was due to be born on the 30th, which is obviously the night the hurricane hit so we were evacuated from our apartment in TriBeCa which is in the flood zone,” Bertouch says.


Little Sophie ended up being born in a hospital with no power.


Driscoll: “What happened? It just brought you back to that night?”

Sally Bertouch: “Yeah. I had a baby in storm and I never really noticed our cared. I had a baby and that was life and then all of a sudden I am standing here.”


If you’d like to check it out yourself, the exhibit runs through next summer.





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Police Seek People Responsible for Vandalizing Brooklyn World War II Memorial


Police are looking for the people responsible for vandalizing a World War II memorial in Brooklyn.


Police say three men spray painted graffiti on a mural on Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint around 4 a.m. Friday.



One of them was caught on surveillance video given to us by the club Warsaw.


The memorial, which honors Polish war veterans who fought and died in the Warsaw Uprising, was unveiled in August on the outside wall of the club.


Police say the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime.


Mark Chroscielewski, the club’s general manager, says fixing the mural won’t be easy.


“This is pretty much a total loss,” Chroscielewski said. “The cost of this vandalism to us is going to be close to $ 5,000. The thing is that, we are going to re-paint, just like Warsaw was razed to the ground by the Nazis in World War II and came back to a vibrant beautiful city as it is today. It will be the same for the Warsaw Uprising Mural.”


“For the Polish community, it’s just like vandalizing the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. It’s pretty much the same feeling that we cherish inside,” said Grzegorz Fryc, who created the mural. “And it is a holy ground for the Polish people and for the veterans who fought against the Nazis, World War II veterans especially.”


Fryc says it will take about two weeks to paint over the graffiti.





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Saturday, November 15, 2014

Embattled de Blasio aide’s son arrested on trespassing charges


The teenage son of controversial mayoral aide Rachel Noerdlinger was busted in Harlem Friday on trespassing charges, law enforcement sources said.


Khari Noerdlinger of Edgewater, NJ, was with three other young men, two of whom had marijuana in their pockets, sources said. The three pals, all of whom had ID, received summonses. But the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Noerdlinger, who had no ID and was reluctant to identify himself, was arrested.


The teenager — who in a Tweet last August called cops “pigs always killing people” — was in Manhattan central booking Saturday night awaiting arraignment in criminal court, said sources.


Given Mayor de Blasio’s stormy relationship with cops, a detective involved in the bust contemplated checking in with a union delegate, sources said.


Rachel Noerdlinger, chief of staff for city First Lady Chirlane McCray and former mouthpiece for Rev. Al Sharpton, won special approval to live in New Jersey by claiming her son suffered devastating physical injuries in two car crashes — even though the strapping kid had fully recovered and played linebacker for his high school football team.


Khari played nine games at the physically demanding position, racking up 41 tackles and two sacks during the 2013 season, according to websites that track high school football stats. Yet his remarkable recovery was never mentioned in a letter Rachel Noerdlinger got from City Hall on her behalf — which specifically cites his “mental and physical condition” as the reason they need to stay in the Garden State.


“It would be a hardship to require Ms. Noerdlinger to relocate in light of her son’s medical condition and social supports in place to help him through an indefinite, long-term process of recovery,” the letter to the head of the city’s personnel agency stated.


Why the apparently traumatized teen was in Manhattan Friday night is unknown.


Her son’s arrest is the latest woe Noerdlinger has faced since she went to work at McCray’s $ 170,000 chief of staff.


Khari Noerdlinger was with his mom’s boyfriend, Hassaun McFarlan, when McFarlan was pulled over in Edgewater in 2011 for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.


McFarlan was charged with pot possession, and Noerdlinger was hit with a summons for letting him drive a car without a license. Khari Noerdlinger was 14 years old at the time.





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Police Arrest Man They Say Slashed His Children


Police have arrested a man they say slashed his two children in their Bronx home.


Investigators say Christopher Stevenson slashed his eight and 17-year-old boys in their home on Watson and Ward Avenues in the Soundville section.


They say the 44-year-old was arrested just blocks away in Soundview Park.


He’s now faces several charges including attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon.


Police say the boys are in stable condition.


We spoke to a pastor who says he knows the family well.


“It’s just a tragic situation for a family that was filled with so much love,” he says. “They are doing OK, you know. They are not going to be probably released today but they’ll be in the hospital a few days and probably under observation because it is a traumatizing situation.”


Police say they’re still investigating what what led to the slashing.





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Man in Hospital After Allegedly Being Stabbed by Fellow Tenant


One man is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed this morning on the Upper West Side.


Police say they have a suspect in custody.


They say he stabbed the victim multiple times in the neck and head around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning.


They say it appeared to be a dispute between two tenants of an apartment building on West 94th Street.


Police say the victim, a man in his 40′s, was taken to Saint Luke’s Hospital.


One person who lives in the building says he’s concerned about security.


“This place is supposed to be independent living and they just let anyone in,” he said.


“We’ve been very concerned about something like this happening. Like a stabbing, the safety and security of the area,” another resident said.


“It’s very disturbing because I didn’t think it would happen here,” said a third.


Police have not identified the suspect, but they say he’s also in his 40′s.


Charges have not yet been filed.





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Man charged in throat-slashing of stepsons


A Bronx man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly slashed the throats of his two stepsons during an argument over a computer, police sources said.


Christopher Stevenson, 44, allegedly tried to kill his 17-year-old and 9-year-old victims inside the family’s Soundview apartment on Ward and Watson Avenues Friday evening because he wanted to use a computer the children were on, police said.


After the bloody attack Stevenson ran, barefoot and shirtless, into Soundview Park, where he was found hours later and arrested.


The boys were rushed to Jacobi Hospital in stable condition, where the teen received at least 100 stitches to his neck, police said. The younger child needed 15 stitches.


Stevenson faces two counts of attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17, police said.





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Police Investigate After Man Found Dead in His Bronx Apartment


Police are investigating after a 63-year-old was found bludgeoned to death inside his Bronx apartment.


Elvin Ramirez was found dead in his apartment on Grand Concourse in University Heights around 6 p.m. Thursday.


A bloody shovel was found next to his body.


Police want to speak to his roommate, who has not been seen since it happened. Police say the two had an argument on Wednesday.


A makeshift memorial is outside his apartment.


Ramirez’s sister, Elba, said she hopes police find whoever did it.


“I’m praying that the guy, that the police catch him,” Elba Ramirez said. “I’m sorry anyway for him because my brother, you know, he had diabetes, and I never believed that my brother will die this manner because he was very nice.”


Ramirez and his roommate also worked together at the same restaurant near their apartment.


The roommate is described as a young man in his 20s.


The manager of the restaurant says the roommate had been drinking and was sent home to calm down.





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DA planning to overturn another of Scarcella’s murder convictions


Brooklyn prosecutors will ask a judge next week to toss the conviction of a man who spent 20 years behind bars for murder after he was arrested by a discredited detective whose career is under scrutiny, sources told The Post on Friday.


Derrick Hamilton, 49, was convicted of a 1991 killing based on testimony by the victim’s girlfriend. But she recanted before he was sentenced, claiming she testified falsely because police threatened to take away her kids, court papers state.


Former detective Louis Scarcella insisted that she only tried to recant because she was scared of Hamilton — so the alleged killer was kept locked up until he was paroled in 2011, according to court papers.


Multiple alibi witnesses also came forward after Hamilton’s trial to say he was in Connecticut during the Bedford-Stuyvesant murder.


Scarcella, 63, currently has over 70 of his decades-old homicide cases under review by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and five murder convictions based on his questionable investigations have been tossed out.


“It’s been 25 years of fighting,” Hamilton told the Post, noting that he missed his children’s graduations and other important moments while he was behind bars.


“It’s a bittersweet moment for me because they’re going to vindicate me, but it’s bittersweet because I can’t get back the years I spent away.”


Law-enforcement sources said DA Ken Thompson’s office will ask a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge to overturn Hamilton’s conviction next week before his Friday court date.


“The Conviction Review Unit reviewed the case and concluded that he was wrongfully convicted of this crime,” said a law-enforcement source, adding that it’s important to toss Hamilton’s wrongful conviction despite his criminal past and unrelated manslaughter conviction.


“This shows that the Conviction Review Unit does not discriminate. Whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy, they’ll point out that wrongful conviction,” the source said.


A Brooklyn DA spokeswoman declined to comment.


When Scarcella testified in September in the wrongful conviction hearing of another man who alleges Scarcella used improper investigative methods, Hamilton heckled the detective as he walked out of court.


“Scarcella, why you do it? Why you frame us? Why you sending us to jail for something we didn’t do?” yelled Hamilton.


Scarcella has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.


While he was in prison Hamilton became a respected jailhouse lawyer who helped other convicts with their appeals – and since his release he is a fixture in Brooklyn courthouses where he sits in on homicide trials and gives advice to defendants and their families.





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Friday, November 14, 2014

Camera-shy wife wore a Batman mask to hide from photogs


Holy cover-up Batman!


The camera-shy wife of a Nassau County legislator who is facing a fraud rap wore a Batman mask to hide from the photographers as she left federal court on Long Island Friday.


Cara Denenberg, 51, was there to support her hubby David Denenberg, who was arraigned on eight counts of mail fraud for allegedly bilking his ex-law firm of more than $ 2 million.


But when the disgraced pol’s batty better half left the Central Islip courthouse about 2:15 p.m., she spotted a scrum of photographers, put on the Caped Crusader mask and bolted to the parking lot about 100 yards away without comment.


Reached later at the family’s Merrick home, Cara told The Post that she was only trying to preserve her privacy by donning the bizarre disguise.


“I’m camera shy and I don’t like my picture taken. I brought it with me and I used it” to duck the media, she said. “That was my plan.”


She also admitted she was not a big fan of The Dark Knight and that her choice of disguise was just a coincidence.


“I’m not really a fan. It was just in the house and I just saw it and took it,” the mother of three added, declining to say whether it was a Halloween leftover.


She said it’s important for people to maintain a sense of humor when faced with adversity.


“That’s right. You’ve got to stay positive,” she said.


But her husband – who faces up to five years behind bars if convicted – seemed more freaked out that his wife was photographed than he did over his legal woes.


“You took pictures of my wife in the mask? Come on, did you really?” Dennenberg, 51, stammered after he was asked about her Batman act.


He pleaded not guilty and was released on $ 500,000 bond after surrendering his passport.


Dennenberg, an eight-term Democrat, dropped out of a state Senate race after being sued – and fired – by his former law firm, Manhattan-based Davidoff, Hutcher & Citron.


The firm charged that he created $ 2.2 million in phony bills and expense reports for work he didn’t do.


The bills were sent through the US mail, which led to the mail fraud charges.


Dennenberg’s lawyer, Jason Russo, said his client does not plan on quitting the Nassau Legislature, where he the ranking member of the finance and public works committees, according to his Senate campaign web site.


He had been running against Republican Mike Venditto for a seat vacated in 2013 by Republican Charles Fuschillo Jr.


Additional reporting by Victor Alcorn





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Mayor Signs Bills that Limit City’s Cooperation in Deportation Proceedings


The federal government will now get less help from the city to deport undocumented immigrants.


Mayor Bill de Blasio signed two bills Friday that limit the city’s cooperation in deportation proceedings.


Going forward, New York law enforcement will share less information about people in custody with the federal government.


The Department of Correction will also stop honoring federal requests to detain someone.


The exceptions include people convicted of serious crimes or those who are on a terrorist watch list.


What’s your reaction to these bills becoming law in New York City? Join the conversation on “The Call” at 9 p.m. with NY1′s John Schiumo or email your thoughts.


De Blasio said the changes had to be done because of Congress failing to enact immigration reform.


“What this, these bills do is, they protect the rights of undocumented immigrants, of visa holders and legal permanent residents alike, all of whom have suffered under the previous approach, and ultimately, prevent families from being torn apart,” de Blasio said.


The new measures will also remove Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from Rikers Island and other detention facilities in New York.





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Corrupt cops to face their whistleblowers at documentary premiere



Michael Dowd



Disgraced former cop Michael Dowd and several fellow officers who were involved in robbing drug dealers and selling cocaine in Brooklyn will confront the whistle-blowers who put them in jail for their corruption more than 20 years ago.


The crooked cop and four other NYPD officers will come face-to-face with the men who turned them at Friday’s premiere of a documentary on their legendary rampage of corruption throughout Brooklyn and Long Island back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.


“THE SEVEN FIVE,” a namesake taken from the 75 precinct in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood, will premiere at the IFC Theater in Lower Manhattan.


The documentary explores Dowd’s criminal activities while working with a badge – from dealing cocaine in Long Island to robbing and killing drug dealers in Brooklyn.


Dowd and his cop cronies led a life of recklessness and lawlessness while working as city cops before Suffolk County cops busted them on drug charges in 1992.





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Gang member went on killing spree after his brother was killed: cops


A 19-year-old gang member waged a murderous revenge campaign after his brother was gunned down in Crown Heights, cops said Thursday.


Clayton Gravenhise allegedly killed two innocent people as payback for the death of his brother Nathaniel on July 3.


His spree started days after Nathaniel’s death, when he gunned down Beverly Turner, 18, the cousin of the man who allegedly killed his brother, cops said.


Police found Turner lying on the ground in front of 326 Quincy St. with multiple gunshot wounds early in the morning on July 13.


About seven weeks later, Clayton walked into a Bedford-Stuyvesant liquor store and allegedly fired a barrage of shots at the youth he believed to be his brother’s killer — but it was the wrong man.


The 19-year-old victim was struck in the head and knee on Aug. 29, and later died.


On Wednesday, Clayton was being questioned in connection with a shooting in Brownsville when he allegedly confessed to the revenge crimes.


He was arrested and charged with murder, cops announced Thursday night.


Gravenhise was a member of the Brooklyn gang Hood Stars. He was also a starting player for the Erasmus Hall HS football team.





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Window Washers Rescued From 1 WTC Speak Out


The two window washers who were left dangling for several hours this week at 1 World Trade Center told their side of the story for the first time on Friday.


Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez spoke to the public for the first time at a news conference.


The two men say they felt prepared to handle the situation and were generally calm throughout the rescue process.


They say seeing fire officials and police kept them from panicking while they were dangling nearly 70 floors above the street.


The two men were treated for mild hypothermia.


Crews worked throughout the day on Thursday to replace the window that was cut open during the rescue.





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