The American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union and other legal organizations filed a lawsuit against the city today on behalf of New Yorkers who say they were targeted by the NYPD’s Muslim surveillance program.

Attorneys bringing the lawsuit allege the the program is unconstitutional because it targets certain groups without cause.

“When a police department turns law-abiding people into suspects because they go to a mosque and not a church or synagogue, it violates our Constitution’s guarantees of equality and religious freedom,” said ACLU National Security Project director Hina Shamsi.

This landmark lawsuit comes on the heels of a high-profile trial brought against the city over another controversial NYPD practice, stop-and-frisk, which lawyers opposing the city allege is being carried out in a manner that is similarly unconstitutional, targeting specific groups without reason.

That lawsuit was not calling for a complete end to stop-and-frisk, only changes to the way it is practiced. 

Conversely, attorneys bringing this case against the city want the Muslim surveillance program to be shut down entirely, and ban any new religion-based surveillance “in the absence of individualized suspicion of criminal activity.”

They are also moving for the records of all of the plaintiffs established as a result of the program to be wiped clean, and are pushing for a monitor over of the NYPD to ensure these demands are carried out.

One of the plaintiffs in this suit is a 20-year-old college sophomore in Brooklyn, Asad Dandia, who co-founded a student group called Muslims Giving Back.

The group was infiltrated by an FBI informant, according to the NYCLU, who went over to Dandia’s house for dinner, met his parents and even once spent the night. 

Once the informant revealed himself, the group lost their meeting location and saw a drop in donations and membership, Dandia said. He said the discovery caused him to change his behavior as well.

“I am constantly frightened,” Dandia said. “What if I say the wrong thing?”

Another plaintiff is the spiritual leader at a Brooklyn mosque, Masjid Al-Ansar, which has reportedly been under surveillance by the NYPD since 2008.

Imam Hamid Hassan Raza lives with his wife and child in Brooklyn.

The Masjid Al-Ansar mosque in Brooklyn has reportedly been under NYPD surveillance dating as far back as 2008. Credit: NYCLU

Raza said he has been visited by plainclothes officers on several occasions without reason, prompting him to stop discussing current events or mentioning any potentially controversial topics in his sermons and to urge congregants to do the same. He said attendance at the mosque has also dropped off because of the surveillance program.

“The surveillance program has prevented me from fulfilling my duty as an imam,” Raza said. “I cannot believe this has happened in the country that I know and love.”

The suit names the city of New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as defendants, as well as Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence David Cohen.

City attorney Celeste Koeleveld defended the Muslim surveillance program, citing the Boston Marathon bombing as evidence of “the critical importance of ‘on-the-ground’ research.” 

“Police need to be informed about where a terrorist may go while planning or what they may do after an attack, as the Boston Marathon bombing proved,” Koeleveld said. “Cities cannot play catch-up in gathering intelligence about a terrorist threat.”

The Boston Marathon bombing suspects were apprehended four days after the attack, in the culmination of a chase that resulted in the deaths of a security guard and one of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarvaev. The city and surrounding areas were on lockdown as police pursued the second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was eventually located in a boat in the backyard of a suburban home.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne reported that this morning at a conference, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis briefed a coalition of counterterrorism agencies on the Boston Marathon bombings.

“Commissioner Davis’ briefing served as a reminder for law enforcement to remain vigilant against terrorist attacks, and the important of understanding where and how terrorists operate, whether directed from overseas or self-radicalized lone wolves operating locally,” Browne said.

Browne also cited the federal Handshu guidelines, a set of rules that outlines the extent of the NYPD’s allowable access in surveillance. The guidelines permit visiting any place or event open to the public and conducting internet research of publicly available content, including visiting forums that are open to the public. The NYPD is also allowed to “prepare general reports and assessments…for purposes of strategic or operational planning,” he said, which he believes includes creating maps of specific neighborhoods.

He accused critics familiar with the guidelines of “intentionally obfuscating their meaning.”

“Those criticisms, whether ill-informed or calculated, will not deter the NYPD from fully respecting the Constitution and protecting the public from those intent on killing more New Yorkers,” Browne said.

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The video above is newly released surveillance footage of the suspect or suspects. The agencies have also released new photos. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said the video and photos ”could be the key to breaking the case.”

“Someone, somewhere, knows something about a bomber who’s still on the run,” Venizelos said. “Today we’re asking for the public’s assistance in finding those responsible and encouraging the public to look closely at these photos and video.”

The 2008 bombing damaged an army recruiting station in Times Square. Credit: FBI

The FBI believes the person or people responsible for this bombing may also have been behind two other bombings in New York City: one in 2005 at the British consulate and another in 2007 at the Mexican consulate.

The FBI and the NYPD will be using the hashtag #BikeBomber to release information about the attacks and solicit information via Twitter.

The surveillance video and photos are being displayed on digital billboards throughout the northeast, including in Times Square.

The new photo shows part of the explosive device used in the attack, the FBI said. The ammunition used in the device was typical for the warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. Authorities say it was filled halfway with black powder, detonated using a time fuse and could have caused serious casualties if people had been nearby.

The FBI says this is military-grade ammunition can was used in the 2008 bombing in Times Square. Credit: FBI

The bombing occurred in the early morning hours of March 6, 2008. The consulate bombings that the FBI suspects could be related also occurred in the early morning hours, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m.; those bombs were also set by a person on a bicycle.

According to the FBI, on that morning in 2008, the suspect rode a blue Ross bicycle west on 37th Street, took a right up Sixth Avenue, and made a left on 47th Street before turning left down Seventh Avenue and getting off his bike at West 43rd Street and Seventh Avenue.

The suspect then apparently placed a bomb at the Army recruiting station, lit a fuse, and fled on the bicycle south on Broadway before turning left on 38th Street. The bike was reportedly found in a dumpster near Madison Avenue and 38th Street.

The FBI says this is the bike the suspect rode away on after bombing an Army recruiting station in Times Square in 2008. Credit: FBI

The suspect on the bicycle was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and pants of an unknown color, the FBI said. The height, weight, age, sex and race of the suspect are still unknown.

While the suspect appears to be working alone, the FBI said it’s possible there were as many as five other people working as lookouts or a surveillance team in Times Square at the time of the bombing.

The investigation is being carried out by FBI agents, NYPD detectives, and members of more than 50 local, state and federal agencies who are all part of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Manhattan. The team is being assisted by prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Authorities are urging anyone with information to call the FBI at 212-384-1000. Callers can remain anonymous.

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The Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday an indictment in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Mark Carson in Greenwich Village last month.

Police reported that Carson was shot by a suspect who made anti-gay comments to him. The fatal shooting was the most violent of several alleged hate crimes reported last month.

“This young man’s tragic death serves as a reminder of the discrimination that many of our family members, coworkers and friends still face,” said Manhattan D.A. Cyrus Vance. “Mr. Carson was murdered as he walked through a neighborhood that has long been a center of the gay rights movement and home to many LGBT New Yorkers.”

“By instilling fear, hate crimes tear at the very fabric of our communities,” Vance added.

The alleged shooter, Elliot Morales, is charged with one count of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, five counts of criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of menacing, including one count of menacing a police officer.

According to Vance, statements made on the record in court describing the May 17 incident indicate that after being chastised by a restaurant worker for urinating outside the restaurant, Morales confronted employees inside the restaurant, barking anti-gay comments, displaying a gun and threatening to shoot patrons in the restaurant.

Morales then allegedly left the establishment and ran into Carson walking with another male, and made further anti-gay comments to them.

He ran into them again shortly thereafter and again made anti-gay comments, before shooting Carson point-blank in the head, according to police.

Vance said an NYPD officer tracked Morales down a few blocks away and when confronted, Morales pointed his gun at the officer. When Morales fumbled, the officer seized the opportunity to tackle him and was able to wrest the gun away.

Morales is facing a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the most severe of the charges against him, murder as a hate crime.

Vance encouraged New Yorkers who experience or witness hate crimes to call his office’s hotline at (212) 335-3100, provided it is not an emergency. If a crime is in progress, witnesses should call 911.

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Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes announced on Monday the indictment of a man accused of training pit bulls to fight.

Leslie Alexander, 39, of Brooklyn faces more than two dozen charges in connection with dogfighting.

Hynes slammed animal fighting as “a barbaric and inhumane practice.”

“Animal fighting is not a ‘sport,’” he said.

Hynes noted that breeding and training animals for fighting is a felony under New York state law and can bring a sentence of up to four years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Many activities connected to animal fighting are felonies under federal law as well.

NYPD officers were granted a warrant to search Alexander’s home for guns and drugs, but when they executed the search on May 24, they reportedly found seven pit bulls and equipment used to train dogs for dogfighting, including 25 dog kennels, devices to strengthen the dogs’ jaws, syringes, two dog treadmills and a “breaking stick” to be used to break a dog’s grip on an animal or other object.

Additionally, Alexander’s garage had allegedly been converted to a dogfighting arena.

Hynes said a handgun and multiple boxes of ammunition were also found at the house.

Animal Care and Control officers impounded the dogs, which Hynes said appeared malnourished and had scars and signs of recent trauma that appeared to have come from dogfighting.

Alexander is being charged with 22 counts of animal fighting; seven counts of overdriving, torturing and injuring animals; criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and unlawful possession of ammunition.

If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison. His arraignment is set for June 2.

Hynes urged people who hear of any plans for dogfights or anything that sounds like dogfighting, or see animals who appear wounded as a result of fighting, to call his office, Animal Care and Control or the ASPCA.

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New York City has settled a lawsuit in which the federal government accused it of improperly reducing retirement benefits for current and former police officers who served in the military after Sept. 11, 2001.

The settlement announced by attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan calls for pension benefits to be calculated in accordance with a 1994 federal law designed to protect the rights of civilian employees who are called to active duty.

The settlement requires court approval.

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Police are reporting a manhole cover explosion and transformer fire in front of the 14th Street Apple store.

The explosion reportedly occurred at 1:52 p.m. today, at Washington and West 14th streets.

There is a power outage along 14th Street from Ninth to 10th avenues, cops said.

Police stated that there are no injuries resulting from this incident.

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Cops responded to a 911 call about 11:15 a.m. Sunday to find a man and a woman dead in an Upper West Side apartment, police reported.

The deceased have been identified as Florenciana Martinez, 44, and Edwin Rodriguez, 58. Martinez was reportedly a resident at the apartment where the two were found.

Cops said the incident is being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Martinez was found on the floor of the bedroom, cops said, and Rodriguez was in the bedroom as well, with a belt around his neck attached to the headboard of his bed.

There were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.

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An off-duty NYPD officer was shot late Sunday night as he tried to break up a domestic violence dispute in Queens, police said. 

Joseph Koch was leaving a party when an 11-year-old boy came out of a nearby home shouting for help, saying his mother was being assaulted inside, cops said.

The boy’s mother reportedly told police that assailant broke into her apartment and burst into the room where she was with her son. The attacker reportedly began punching the woman in the face repeatedly, knocking her into a wall, she told police.

Cops said her son tried to stop his mother’s alleged attacker but the attacker punched the boy in the face and kocked him to the ground. He turned back to the boy’s mother and continued punching and kicking her in her face, head and body, police said.

That is apparently when the boy ran for help, encountering Koch.

The boy’s mother told police that Koch appeared in the doorway. She said she recognized he was a police officer because he had his gun drawn and she could see his badge.

The victim said that Koch told her assailant to stop and put his hands up, but the assailant lunged at the officer, attacking him.

The two struggled for the gun and three shots were fired, police said.

Koch was struck once in his left hand and the suspect was struck once in the lower abdomen. No one else was shot. Both Koch and the suspect were taken to Jamaica Hospital in stable condition. The domestic violence victim was also taken to Jamaica Hospital where she was treated for a laceration to the head, cops said.

The suspect, who has been identified as Jose Bernazard, 40, has been arrested and charged with five counts of assault, five counts of criminal contempt, aggravated harassment, burglary, endangering the welfare of a child, and resisting arrest.

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Police responded to a 911 call at 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning from a caller reporting a person hit by a car near 97 East 233 Street in the Bronx, cops said.

Police said officers arrived to find a 27-year-old male laying on the ground with no cars in sight.

EMS workers reportedly pronounced the victim, later identified as Kevin Bell with a listed address just a few blocks away, dead at the scene.

No arrests have been made, but the investigation is ongoing, cops said.

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Police have arrested a teenager in connection with the shooting that wounded a 9-year-old girl who was playing outside her home in the Bronx on Friday night.

Billie James, 17, has been charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

Meanwhile, the young victim was released from the hospital Sunday, the New York Post reported.

Metro’s original story is below.

A 9-year-old girl was hit by a stray bullet in the Bronx on Friday night, police reported.

About 9:20 p.m., a suspect on a bicycle fired several shots, cops said. Police said the girl was outside her house playing when she was shot in the torso.

The victim was taken to the North Central Bronx Hospital and then transported to Jacobi Hospital in stable condition, cops said.

The NYPD is asking that anyone with information regarding this shooting call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are confidential.

A $2,000 reward is being offered by Crime Stoppers for any information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for this shooting. An additional $10,000 is being offered by the NYPD, and another $10,000 by the mayor’s office, for information leading to the shooter’s arrest and conviction.

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An accused bank robber who allegedly held up at least four banks on Thursday was captured by police after he crashed his getaway car near the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan and tried to run from cops.

The suspect crashed his car on West 31st Street as he headed for the tunnel, The Daily News reports.

He then attempted to flee on foot but was unsuccessful. NYPD officers and a Port Authority officer surrounded and caught the robber at the entrance to the tunnel.

The robber targeted several banks on Thursday including an Investor’s Bank near Fifth Avenue and East 29th Street at about 3:50 p.m., police said.

Charges for the suspect were pending on Thursday night. Cops are now searching for Frank Mione, 47, (pictured below) for questioning regarding the robberies.

Police are now searching for 47-year-old Frank Mione for questioning regarding the bank robberies on Thursday. (NYPD)

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A livery cab driver died on Thursday after he was stabbed in the eye, police said.

The driver crashed his 2000 Mercury near the intersection of Lott Avenue and Thomas Boyland Street in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn at approximately 5:30 p.m., police said. When cops arrived at the crash scene, they observed the driver with a stab wound to the eye.

The victim was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police are searching for a man and a woman in their mid-20s who were in the cab driver’s car, The New York Post reports.

A surveillance video from a nearby bodega obtained by the Post shows the pair walking out of the vehicle.

The investigation is ongoing.

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As city politicians argue over a bill that would establish an independent Inspector General with oversight over the NYPD, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the city’s stop-and-frisk lawsuit recommending just that, in the event that the presiding judge finds that the NYPD’s implementation of its stop-and-frisk practice is unconstitutional.

Judge Shira Scheindlin has yet to issue a decision in the stop-and-frisk trial, and the DoJ’s stated interest exists only if she decides against the city, finding that the implementation of stop-and-frisk by the NYPD unjustly targets black and Hispanic people and is a systematic violation of the Fourth Amendment right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

The DoJ statement is entirely contingent on the court finding a constitutional violation— it does not attest that there is one.

If she does find a need for reform, though, the Justice Department asked that she consider a court-appointed monitor—and moreover, that she consider making the DoJ that court-appointed monitor.

“A court-appointed monitor in this case would help the Court ensure that, if any pattern or practice is found to exist, it is effectively and sustainably remedied,” the statement read. “The experience of the United State in enforcing police reform injunctions teaches that the appointment of an independent monitor is a critically important asset to the courts, the parties, and the community in cases involving patterns or practices of unlawful conduct by law enforcement officials.”

In the 21-page statement, the Justice Department cites its experience engaging in reform efforts with several police forces in the past, including addresses systemic issues in the execution of stops and searches.

The DoJ stated that an independent monitor “can reduce unnecessary delays and litigation over disputes regarding compliance” and “should non-compliance be identified, early and objective detection by the monitor, as well as the identification of barriers to compliance, allows the parties to undertake corrective action, which saves the parties, the Court, and, importantly, the City precious time and resources.”

The experience the Department emphasized the most was a consent decree entered into with Pittsburgh in 1997 to address issues with police using excessive force in searches and seizures.

After the appointment of a federal monitor, the Justice Department said, the city came into compliance with the decree in 1999 and the injunction due to the finding of excessive force was lifted 2002.

A branch of the Department of Justice, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), apparently analyzed the work done with Pittsburgh and found that a court-appointed monitor is a critical element of effective reform.

According to the Department of Justice, in the Pittsburgh case, the federal monitor effectively put together a plan of action, provided a compliance manual with milestones and stages, held early meetings with community leaders and effectively offered reassurance that change was coming, and cultivated a collaborative instead of adversarial relationship with city officials “making it easier for them to accept some of the more difficult terms of the decree.”

Advocates of an Inspector General have been quick to express support and enthusiasm for the Justice Department’s proposal.

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the proposal “welcome and long overdue.”

“The NYCLU has for years been asking the Department of Justice to come into New York and put an end to the NYPD’s abuse of stop-and-frisk,” she said.

City Comptroller and mayoral candidate John Liu said the DoJ’s statement “should be a sobering wake-up call for Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly.”

But Liu, perhaps the most outspoken opponent of stop-and-frisk among the mayoral candidates, brushed aside the idea of a monitor as a solution.

“Simply abolishing stop and frisk would alleviate concerns about management of the NYPD,” Liu said.

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The post VIDEO: Cops seek suspect who robbed elderly man appeared first on Metro.us.

Police are searching for a man who knocked down and robbed an elderly man in Manhattan earlier this week. 

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  VIDEO: Cops seek suspect who robbed elderly man

The robber followed the victim into a residential location near West 18th Street at approximately 11:25 p.m. on Monday when he pushed the man down and removed his property, causing the victim to injure his hip, police said.

The thief swiped the 92-year-old victim’s bible and glasses, The Daily News reports.

A $22,000 reward is being offered leading to the arrest of the suspect, with $10,000 being offered each from the Mayor’s office and the NYPD and $2,000 being offered from Crime Stoppers.

The suspect is described as being in his 30s.

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The U.S. Justice Department notified New York City officials on Wednesday that it plans to ask a federal judge for oversight of the city’s police department if she determines its controversial stop-and-frisk policy is unconstitutional, according to a news report.

The New York Daily News report comes after the conclusion of a 10-week federal civil trial on the practice by New York City police of stopping people they suspect of unlawful activity and frisking those they suspect are carrying weapons.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin is expected to rule in the coming weeks.

Defenders of the tactics, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, say the practice has helped to reduce crime. Opponents contend that stop-and-frisk targets minorities and violates their Fourth Amendment rights for protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment. A spokesman for the New York Police Department was not immediately available late Wednesday.

Bloomberg spokesman John McCarthy said the office has not seen any papers yet but the administration continues to support the city’s police department.

Overall police stops have shot up sharply during Bloomberg’s administration – from 160,851 in 2003, Bloomberg’s first year in office, to 685,724 in 2011. About half of the 2011 stops resulted in searches.

The lawsuit was filed in 2008 by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of four black men who said they were stopped based on their race.

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Police report that Emergency Service Unit cops rescued two window washers at the Hearst Building on 57th Street who were on a collapsed scaffolding 44 stories above ground on Wednesday.

The ESU cops removed the windows on the 44th floor and attached safety harnesses to the two workers, cops said.

The scaffold apparently folded in half, cops said, which it is designed to do when not in use.

An extensive profile of this window-washing scaffolding appeared in the New Yorker a few months ago.

The New Yorker called the machinery the most complex window-washing rig in New York. It reportedly took engineers three years to design the $3 million system, which has 67 electromechanical safety sensors and switches.

The rig reportedly runs along 420 feets of elevated steel track at the top of the building, and it takes an hour every morning to conduct thorough safety checks.

Police identified the window-washers as Bronx resident Victor Caraballo, 26, and Brooklyn resident Stephen Schmidt, 49.

Both men work for a company called Tractel, cops said, which operates out of Long Island City in Queens.

Both men reportedly refused medical attention at the scene and were not transported to a hospital.

A woman who works in the Hearst Building told Metro the scaffolding “looked crazy” from the inside, although she said she herself does not work on the 44th Floor.

“That’s where all the big dogs work,” she said. “All the guys who are, like, 50 or 60.”

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The NYPD disseminates a manual throughout the department called “Policing a Multicultural Society,” apparently with the aim of increasing cultural sensitivity within the city’s police force, the New York Times reported.

City lawyers in the recent stop-and-frisk lawsuit reportedly pointed to the manual as evidence that the department is conscientious with regard to diversity.

“Beckoning people to come to you by holding your palms up, for example, may be seen as obscene among Latin Americans,” is one tidbit of advice the manual offers. “Probably it is best for police officers to avoid using hand gestures until they have acquainted themselves with what they mean to the community members whom they serve.”

The manual notes that Africans shake hands “through a light touch of the palms,” and that using children as interpreters is tricky, even though youths often speak English better than their immigrant parents: it is best to direct questions “to the male of the household, even if children are serving as interpreters,” the manual advises.

Some of the advice seems intended to assure officers that behaviors that may alarm them could have cultural explanations, such as the notice to “be aware that newly arrived Arab-Americans may get out of their car when stopped by a police officer as a gesture of courtesy.”

In other instances, cops are cautioned to not take suspicious or antagonistic behavior personally, especially with people who come from countries where law enforcement was probably frightening and corrupt: ”In such places, people learn early that there is little to gain and much to lose by trusting the police or by telling them the truth. No matter how friendly, trustworthy, and helpful we may try to be, habits and traditions learned during a lifetime of oppression do not die easily.”

It continues with advice to make an effort to assuage the fears of people from such places.

“Your interactions with immigrants from countries like Haiti, Cambodia, El Salvador, and Guatemala will go more smoothly if you take the time to assure them that you will not hurt them,” the manual advises.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information reportedly told the New York Times that the manual’s advice, and the cultural observations therein, are “consistent with the literature and texts utilized by universities.”

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UPDATE: Police gained entry into an apartment in lower Manhattan shortly after noon where they expected to find a hostage situation, cops said.

Police said the suspect being sought, Jimmy Siders, 31, an alleged accomplice in a drug-related fatal shooting in 2010, was not present.

Police report that the incident started at approximately 6:30 a.m. this morning when Manhattan Warrants detectives tried to execute an arrest warrant for Siders. PACE University Student and alleged low-level marijuana dealer Max Moreno was reportedly shot in the head by two men attempting to rip him off. Police identified the two men as Raymond Rizzo, who was convicted in 2012, and Randy Colon, who is still awaiting trial.

When warrants detectives arrived at the apartment where they expected to find Siders, they heard voices inside, police said. Police report that the voices sounded like children, so the detectives called for Emergency Services Unit, Hostage Negotiation Team and Tactical Assistance Response Unit personnel.

Police said that after several hours, they discovered the apartment is currently occupied by Siders’ 50-year-old mother, Cynthia Siders, and two of his half-siblings, a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.

Three other half-siblings reportedly live at that location, cops said, but Siders is not a tenant on record.

Siders’ mother reportedly refused to open the door, telling cops she was tired of the police coming to her home, cops said.

Metro’s original story is below.

A law enforcement source reports that police have been attempting for over two hours to get into an apartment in lower Manhattan after an arrest warrant was issued for a suspect who was allegedly involved in a fatal shooting nearly three years ago.

The suspect, who police have identified as Jimmy Siders, is believed to be barricaded in a 4th-floor apartment in a building in the Smith Houses near the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Cops believe there are three teens in the apartment with him, though their attempts to enter the apartment have yielded no responses. The Hostage Negotiation Team and Technical Assistance Response Unit have been called to the scene.

On September 29, 2010, Pace University student and alleged low-level marijuana dealer Max Moreno was allegedly shot in the head in a drug rip-off, cops said. Siders allegedly went to Moreno’s apartment at 2 Gold Street in lower Manhattan to buy pot, then left the door unlocked on his way out. Two accomplices, identified by police as Randy Colon and Raymond Rizzo, allegedly broke into the apartment to steal marijuana. Moreno resisted, and Colon fatally shot him in the once in the head, cops said.

Rizzo has been convicted, and Colon is awaiting trial, cops said.

Cops say Siders was indicted today, and an arrest warrant was issued. Police deployed to the apartment at 8:45 a.m. to attempt to arrest Siders.

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Warning: This video contains profanity.

The post VIDEO: Three men accuse cops of violence, anti-gay slur appeared first on Metro.us.

Three Brooklyn men were joined by gay rights groups and anti-violence activists at One Police Plaza on Tuesday as they recounted a recent incident in which they claim they were assaulted by cops because they were gay. 

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  VIDEO: Three men accuse cops of violence, anti-gay slur

Josh Williams, Ben Collins and Antonio Maenza say they were walking past the 79th Precinct police station in Bed-Stuy at about 4 a.m. on June 2 when a police officer accused Williams of public urination and threw him against a squad car.

The men say that the officer was joined by other officers who threw Williams to the ground and pepper sprayed him. They also said one of the officers used an anti-gay slur during the confrontation.

Police, on the other hand, say Williams was urinating on a dumpster in the parking lot of the precinct and was uncooperative when the officer approached him.

Williams was combative and appeared to be drunk, and the other two men interfered with the arrest, police said.

One of the men recorded the incident on video.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the Internal Affairs Bureau would review it.

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Cops are investigating a Bronx crash after a motorist lost consciousness and drove onto a sidewalk, striking a 17-year-old girl and her 10-month-old baby.

Police responded to the call about a collision at approximately 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday in the vicinity of Prospect Avenue and Westchester Avenue. A 68-year-old man operating a 2005 silver Lincoln Town Car was traveling southbound on Prospect Avenue when he apparently lost consciousness, cops said.

The driver struck the rear of another car that had two occupants. He then collided into a parked, unoccupied vehicle before continuing onto the sidewalk where he struck the two victims and caused them to fall to the ground.

The driver was pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital. Both the girl and the baby were in stable condition.

Police were still investigating the cause of the crash, but the driver may have suffered a heart attack, The Daily News reports.

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Police are reporting a body found floating in the water near Governor’s Island Tuesday night.

Cops say the body is badly decomposed, but appears to be a light-skinned Hispanic male in his 30s with visible head trauma.

The body, as yet unidentified, has reportedly been removed from the water by Harbor Unit cops near Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park.

The Medical Examiner has reportedly been notified and will determine cause of death.

The investigation is ongoing, cops said.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Body found near Governor’s Island: cops appeared first on Metro.us.

In an unusual move, two city councilmen plan to force a vote on two controversial police reform bills that another council member vehemently opposes and had sought to block.

Councilmen Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander will file discharge petitions on Wednesday to force the council to vote on the Community Safety Act, which consists of two bills: one that would create an independent inspector general tasked with monitoring the NYPD and another anti-racial profiling bill that would allow people to sue police officers in state court.

Councilman Peter Vallone chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee, which had given him the authority to block the vote. He argued that the second bill, which would expand an existing racial profiling ban to cover things like housing status and immigration status, would lead to more unsafe streets.

The ban, he said, “enables lawsuits which would: number one, blow a hole in the city’s budget which exists to defend these lawsuits; number two, police would be pulled off the streets to defend these lawsuits; number three, any judge who finds the police department guilty of ‘disparate impact’ can issue sanctions—a judge can refuse to let them hire new people, do stop and frisk, DWI roadblocks, etc. We cannot take control away from the Police Commissioner and give it to judges.”

Speaker Christine Quinn has likewise made it clear that she did not support the expansion of the profiling ban, but she helped negotiate the Inspector General Monitoring bill and is backing Williams’ and Lander’s plan to force a vote. This marks the first time she will allow a vote on a bill she opposes.

“I believe that we can — that we must — have both safe streets and stronger police-community relations,” Quinn said. “An IG will provide feedback and recommendations to our commissioner and mayor on how to balance these two goals and ensure one doesn’t impede on the other.”

Danielle Tcholakian contributed reporting. Follow Emily Johnson on Twitter @emilyjreports

The post Bypassing opposition, police reform bills will be forced to a vote appeared first on Metro.us.

On October 22nd, NYPD Sergeant Agy Peña went to the doctor with headaches and fainting spells.

She went alone because she didn’t think it was a big deal, she said.

But she was sent for an MRI, and when she returned to the doctor’s office, she was given some terrifying news: she had a massive brain tumor known as anaplastic astrocytoma.

Two days later, she had an operation that removed 95 percent of the mass. But doctors said trying to take out the remaining five percent would cause permanent brain damage.

The surgery left her unable to speak, and with limited motor skills on her right side. Since then, she’s been in speech therapy, physical therapy, and undergoing chemo and radiation to remove the remaining mass.

She finally learned to speak again last month.

“I could think of it all in my head, but I couldn’t speak it,” she said, describing the process of learning to speak again. “My brain was kind of going like a hundred miles an hour.”

The treatments have added up, leaving her with $22,000 in medical bills her insurance won’t cover.

Her best friend, Sergeant Alexandra Sarubbi, and five other colleagues have organized a fundraiser near the end of the month, inviting other members of the force to come out and support their “sister in blue” with donations to help cover Peña’s medical costs.

Peña said her friends have told her support has been pouring in.

A nine-year veteran on the force, Sergeant Agy Peña joined the department when she was 21 years old.

She said she always knew she wanted to be a cop.

“I thought that was the most exciting thing that I could do,” she said. “I didn’t want to have a job that I would wake up to and, you know, go to an office everyday and sit there.”

She has chosen to stay on sick leave rather than resign, saying she doesn’t know what she would do if she wasn’t a cop. But a recent doctor’s appointment left her sounding a little discouraged.

“I don’t see it happening anytime soon,” she said.

So she remains on indefinite sick leave, while she powers through speech therapy and physical therapy and works to get back out on the streets where she feels she belongs.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post NYPD officers come together to help a sister in blue appeared first on Metro.us.

Cops reported a robbery in Coney Island they say took place on June 6 at 4 p.m.

The suspect allegedly follow a 56-year-old woman off of an elevator, threw her to the ground, and ran off with her bag.

Police have obtained a surveillance photo of the suspect and are requesting that anyone with information call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

All calls are confidential.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Man throws woman, 56, to the ground, steals purse appeared first on Metro.us.

A thief made off with $90,000 in Flushing, Queens Monday morning, cops reported.

The suspect allegedly broke the driver’s side window of a car parked outside BankAsiana at 162-05 Crocheron Avenue while the driver was inside making a deposit.

Police said the driver had apparently left a black plastic bag with $90,000 in cash inside the car, which he intended to deposit at a different bank.

The NYPD has provided a photo of the suspect and requests that anyone with information regarding the suspect or the incident call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). All calls are confidential.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post $90,000 in cash stolen from car in Flushing: cops appeared first on Metro.us.

In an interview with CBS New York, mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner said if elected, he “would not abolish” stop-and-frisk, the NYPD practice that some say unjustly targets young men of color.

“If someone is acting suspiciously and we think they’re gonna commit a crime, a police officer should be able to stop them,” Weiner said.

“But if you’re a cop who’s stopped people and they haven’t done anything wrong, you’re a bad cop and you should be fired,” he added.

Weiner also revealed he’s a fan of NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, though Kelly would not be able to keep his current job if Weiner wins the mayoral election.

“I think it’s time for some change at the top,” Weiner said. “But I like Ray Kelly and I think he’s a talented guy. So, if he’s willing to take another job in my administration, I might offer it to him.”

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Anthony Weiner weighs in on stop-and-frisk, likes Kelly appeared first on Metro.us.

The New York City Anti-Violence Project alleges that several NYPD officers were involved in “anti-LGBTQ” violence against three openly gay men in Bedford-Stuyvesant last weekend.

“The survivors reported that they were walking past the 79^th Precinct when an NYPD officer accused one of the men of public urination and attacked him, throwing him against a police car,” AVP said in a statement. “The officer was joined by other officers who also attacked the man, throwing him to the ground and pepper spraying him while he was in handcuffs.”

One of the men, Ben Collins, told the Village Voice that the officers used gay slurs while arresting his roommate, Josh Williams.

A video of the incident appears to show police officers shoving one of the men. The AVP plans to hold a press conference on Tuesday to discuss what they call the ”bias-motivated assault.”

Watch the video of the incident below. Warning: Explicit language.

Follow Emily Johnson on Twitter @emilyjreports

The post VIDEO: Anti-Violence Project decries alleged ‘anti-LGBTQ’ police incident appeared first on Metro.us.

UPDATE: Emergency Services Unit personnel has determined that a white powder sent to FDNY headquarters at 9 Metro Tech Center this morning is non-toxic, police reported.

Department of Environmental Protection personnel have taken a sample for further evaluation. Testing will also be conducted by the Department of Health.

No complications or ill effects have been reported by the two FDNY members who came in contact with the letter and were decontaminated earlier.

Metro’s original story is below.

At approximately 9:22 a.m., police responded to a report of a letter sent to the third-floor fire prevention office at FDNY headquarters containing a sealed bag with an as-yet unidentified white powder, cops said.

Emergency Service Unit personnel and city Department of Environmental Protection officials are reportedly at the scene to test the powder. Cops said no injuries have been reported.

The letter was on FDNY letterhead that is readily available on the internet for people wishing to send inquiries to the fire department, cops said. The sender reportedly wrote that the powder was falling off the walls of his garage, and he had found his children playing with it. He was reportedly requesting help identifying the substance.

The letter was reportedly handled by a fire prevention officer, then given to an assistant chief, who notified police and Emergency Medical Services. The fire prevention officer and the assistant chief have both been decontaminated, cops said.

The letter is being kept in a sealed-off area on the third floor, cops said. Part of the third floor has been evacuated while the investigation continues.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post (UPDATED) White powder sent to FDNY headquarters appeared first on Metro.us.