Tropical Storm Isaias proved deadly in New York City Tuesday, when strong wind gusts snapped a massive tree at its’ base and brought it crashing down on a van in the Briarwood section of Queens.
60yr old construction worker Mario Siles of Manhattan was sitting inside of his white 2014 Dodge Ram work van parked outside of 143-28 84th Drive when the tree crushed the van. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mario was working at a nearby construction site and may have been taking a break when tragedy struck.
A team from the New York City Parks Department used chain saws to cut up the huge trunk, moving the pieces with the help of a crane.
Officers from the NYPD Collision Investigation Squad then conducted an Investigation before the body could be examined and removed by the Medical Examiner.
The wrath of Tropical Storm Isaias was very much felt in the boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, where numerous downed trees damaged houses and cars alike, snarled traffic with blocked roadways and left hundreds of thousands without electricity.
Mario Siles cause of death will officially be determined by the Office of The Chief Medical Examiner.
24yr old Chen Han Jiang was arrested by a horde of heavily armed Officers after he was spotted on the rooftop of 35 Rogers Avenue between Dean Street and Bergen Street in Brooklyns’ Crown Heights neighborhood, with what looked like several guns and ammunition.
Jiang, who lives nearby on Rogers Avenue, was seen wearing tactical gear, a tactical belt with ammunition clips for a long gun and a hand gun and also a holster for a 9mm handgun.
Officers from the 77th Precinct were first on scene after receiving the 911 calls and immediately called for backup upon laying eyes on the seemingly heavily armed man who looked like he was preparing to reign down death and destruction on the unsuspecting populace.
Specially trained Emergency Services Unit Officers and Strategic Response Officers swarmed the area, shutting down roads and placing surrounding buildings on lockdown as NYPD Helicopters hovered at a safe distance to monitor the mans’ movements.
Officers were then able to make a successful breach to the rooftop, training their guns on the man and ordering him to surrender. And surrender he did, laying down on the rooftop and placing his hands behind him.
As it turned out, the very visually frightening, absolutely realistic looking guns were in reality ‘BB’ guns. Jiang, who had taken off some of his tactical attire before Officers swarmed the rooftop, was seen wearing a t-shirt bearing the words ‘Charlotte Carolina’ as he was led away in handcuffs.
Jiang was charged with Reckless Endangerment, Obstruction of Governmental Administration, Criminal Possession of Weapons, Menacing and Disorderly Conduct. His Arraignment was pending later Tuesday night.
Apparently, not everyone agrees with that narrative and with good reason.
54yr old recidivist Janaria Kelley was arrested by Officers from Transit District 2, and within the confines of the NYPD 1st Precinct in lower Manhattan, after he threatened fellow straphangers with a pink Gravity Knife while riding a northbound number 3 train.
Officers responding to the 911 call rushed into the subway entrance at Fulton Street and William Street to meet the train, and promptly placed Janaria, who was also intoxicated, under arrest. The knife was recovered from his pants pocket during a search of his person.
As it turns out, Cops were on the lookout for Janaria for a previous Forcible Touching incident. According to Police, on Tuesday February 11th, 2020, at about 12:25PM, a 52yr old woman was walking through the 14th Street-Union Square Station when an unknown male grabbed her midsection through her clothing before running up to street level, making good his escape.
In their Request For Media Attention issued the same day, photos that were included of the Suspect shows him wearing some of the same clothing as he was when arrested today, including the very same headwear. Kelley was charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon and Violation of Local Law. He was also charged with Forcible Touching and Harassment for the Feb. 11th incident. Kelley is no stranger to Law Enforcement, with one arrest in 2015 and three arrests in 2019. He could be heard yelling “Where’s my wine, where’s my wine” as Officers tried to place him in the back of their marked patrol car on Fulton Street while passersby filmed the encounter.
It is hard to imagine that law abiding citizens would not welcome news of this mans’ arrest, especially his victims. Maybe he will spend some time behind bars and give honest straphangers a break from crime – Maybe.
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, today announced a Grand Jury Indictment against Lawrence Ray, also known as ‘Lawrence Grecco’, that included charges of Sex Trafficking, Extortion and Forced Labor.
Berman made the announcement alongside William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director In Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, during a press conference at their offices in downtown Manhattan.
Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ was arrested earlier this morning in New Jersey and was scheduled to make his first appearance in Court later this afternoon in Manhattan.
According to the allegations contained within the Indictment, Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ moved into an on campus dorm room at a College in Westchester County, New York, sometime over the Summer of 2010.
At the time, the room was occupied by one of his daughters who was enrolled at the College, along with her male and female roommates.
The Indictment further alleges that over a period of almost ten years, Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ presented himself as a father figure to the students, started holding ‘Therapy Sessions’ and imparting his personal philosophy.
Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ gradually gained the students’ trust and confidence, which he then used to extract intimate details of their personal lives, including struggles with mental health issues.
He convinced several students that they were ‘broken’ and needed him, alienating them from their parents. With these students firmly in his grasp, Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ ramped up his game, holding interrogation sessions, employing sleep deprivation techniques, making false accusations to and extracting false confessions from the students to include that they tried to poison Ray and his family, which he video taped.
Lawrence Ray aka ‘Lawrence Grecco’ is also alleged to have used psychological, physical and verbal abuse as well as threatening to file criminal legal action against the students. He is also alleged to have used sexual humiliation, forcing them to have sex with each other while he watched (even over the internet if they were not physically in the same location), threats of disembowelment with knives and actual physical violence where students were choked. Ray convinced them they owed him tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars for which the students did anything to pay the perceived debt (Ray is alleged to have collected close to one million dollars). Some leaned on their parents, were forced to work performing physical improvements to private property owned by Rays’ family in Pinehurst, North Carolina and one student even put to work as a prostitute.
You can read the twenty-two page Grand Jury Indictment and all the sordid allegations here:
A man who supervised workers at a construction site at 21 Clark Street in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn was ambushed and stabbed at about 6:35AM on Tuesday while on his way to work just a block away outside of an empty store front at 59 Clark Street.
A man who lives in a building across the street said “The screaming woke me up” I looked out my window and saw this man running away (westward) down Clark Street and somebody yelled He’s Going To The Jobsite” “A lot of people were there trying to help the man (who was stabbed)”.
A Doorman at a building across the street said “I saw this man sitting by a bicycle waiting, then he ran across the street and attacked the other guy” “The man he stabbed is the Foreman at the construction site down there and the man who stabbed him was recently fired” “After the attack he (the attacker) ran down here (west on Clark Street) past the construction and turned left onto Willow Street” “He (the attacker) had a wound on his head”.
A worker at the construction site at 21 Clark Street confirmed that the victim worked there and the attacker used to work there.
A bloody camouflaged folding knife, a bloody pair of glasses and one black shoe were recovered at the scene, with blood visible on the sidewalk, a light pole and a Citi Bike dock.
The 49yr old victim was rushed to the hospital with a stab wound to the left side of his chest. His condition is reported to be stable. No arrests have been made as of mid-morning on Wednesday.
Two workers were rushed to Staten Island University Hospital North on Staten Island with serious burns at about 10:50AM on Tuesday.
The horrific incident occurred when a gas fed fire erupted while the workers were working inside of a manhole on Bay Ridge Parkway near 19th Avenue in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn.
Authorities closed down several blocks for hours as multiple teams from National Grid worked to shut down the flow of gas from the pipeline.
As of Wednesday evening, there was no update on the condition of the burned workers. An Investigation into the exact cause of this incident remains ongoing.
An elderly man who walks with the aid of a Cane was attacked while he was onboard a B46 bus that was northbound on Utica Avenue at Fulton Street in Brooklyn at about 9:10AM on Tuesday.
The attacker, described by witnesses as a much younger man at least six feet tall, was able to flee the bus, making his escape by possibly boarding yet another bus at the busy intersection, according to witnesses.
The victim suffered a head wound in the attack and his clothing was visibly covered with blood.
Initial reports indicated the victim was stabbed, but it remains unclear at this time what was actually used to inflict the wound.
The attacker is still on the lam and is actively being sought by Cops.
The 85yr old driver of a white Mercedes Benz sedan was pronounced dead at the Hospital after he collided with a Dodge Ram pickup truck on Peninsula Boulevard at the intersection of Harris Avenue in Hewlett, Nassau County, at about 11:29AM on Tuesday. The pickup truck overturned onto its’ right side.
It was the second road fatality of the morning on Peninsula Boulevard, happening just a mile and a half away from the earlier one on Peninsula Boulevard and Edwards Avenue.
The driver of the Dodge Ram was also transported to a Hospital with non life threatening injuries. It is not clear whether he faces any charges.
A 73yr old Jewish man was pronounced dead at the Hospital after he was struck by a 36yr old woman driving a white Infiniti SUV as he tried to cross Peninsula Boulevard at Edwards Avenue in Woodmere, Nassau County, at about 7:00AM on Tuesday.
The driver remained at the scene. It is unknown at this time whether she faces any charges.
The 911 board was all lit up, numerous calls coming in for an unconscious, unresponsive child on Fulton Street at Rockwell Place in downtown Brooklyn at about 12:10PM on Saturday.
FDNY members from Engine Company 226 rushed to the scene to find some good Samaritans, one of whom actually jumped off of his rented Revel electric moped, trying desperately to help a visibly distraught woman and her two year old son, both of whom were down on the damp, cold sidewalk.
New Yorks’ Bravest wasted no time as they sprang into action, providing critical aid to the toddler as he lay on the sidewalk, while several of the people who had stopped to help did their best to comfort the crying mother.
Firefighter Neves then lifted the child in his arms and took him to an ambulance from the Brooklyn Hospital that arrived on the scene. Both mother and son were whisked away to a local hospital, for what we all hope to be a positive outcome. The exact circumstances surrounding this tragic incident are not known at this time.