Sep 202012
 

Last Wednesday at City Hall, New York City Police Officer Yi Huang received a special proclamation from City Councilman Vincent Gentile for his role in helping to save the life of a despondent man named Lin Huan Quiang, as reported by Denise Romano for the Home Reporter. Lin, an immigrant from China, had attempted to jump off the Verrazano Bridge.

The humble and undoubtedly heroic Officer Huang had responded to a call put out for speakers of Cantonese, the only language Lin is fluent in. He rushed to the scene from the NYPD’s Fifth Precinct in Chinatown, going “above and beyond the call of duty,” as Gentile proclaimed to members of the press. As wind and loud thunderstorms made the task more difficult, Huang and the other first responders were able to save Lin from a premature and needless death.

However, according to at least one account, there is another police officer who also deserves credit. Continue reading »

Jul 312012
 

Image source: jesus-leon via Flickr.

According to one veteran police reporter and author, the NYPD’s Public Information Office likes to credit its own officers for their good deeds over members of other law enforcement agencies, even if that means stretching the truth. A lot.

In his weekly online column NYPD Confidential, Leonard Levitt details a purported insiders account of last week’s heroic talk down of a suicidal man from the edge of the Verrazano Bridge.

The difference between the official story put out by the press and what Levitt says really happened?

Levitt writes that it was in fact MTA Bridge and Tunnel officer Eddie Fung who spent four hours talking down despondent civilian Lin Huan Quiang, not Officer Yi Huang of the NYPD’s 5th Precinct in Chinatown – as had previously been reported by multiple news organizations. Continue reading »

Jul 242012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit prevented a “despondent” Brooklyn man from taking his own life by jumping off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Monday.

A “marathon negotiation session” began at around 12 when Lin Huan Qiong, 46, from Sheepshead Bay was seen climbing one of the bridge’s metal “fingers,” writes John M. Annese as part of a thrilling rescue story for the Staten Island Advance. Continue reading »

Jul 162012
 

As local real estate prices remain some of the strongest in the country, another apparent victim of the “benign neglect” so many once-proud homes in New York City suffer from began to crumble late last night.

ABC 7 is reporting that firefighters and police were called to the scene of a partially collapsed vacant building on Ovington Avenue, between 5th Ave and 6th Ave, at around 3 a.m.

Authorities do not believe anyone was inside the older wood frame house – which is owned by “controversial” landlord Mousa Khalil - when the structural failure occurred. Continue reading »

Jun 292012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr.

The Staten Island Advance is reporting that a disturbing string of suicides on the Verrazano Bridge which began in April continued yesterday, when a man in his 30s jumped from near the middle of the almost mile-long span at around 2:30 p.m. Continue reading »

Jun 212012
 

Image source: Wikipedia Commons.

Firefighters who took on an overnight blaze at an 81st Street home were also forced to battle the elements, as the oppressive heat and humidity hampered an already difficult job, reports ABC 7.

The four-alarm fire started at a “two story house” on 81st Street and Colonial Road last night at around 3:30 a.m.

According to news accounts, neighbors could see smoke “pouring from the home.” Continue reading »

Jun 112012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Police have classified last Friday’s suicide leap from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as a missing persons case. NYPD officials made the determination after search and rescue teams came up empty in the search for a body, writes Staten Island Advance.

Friday’s incident marks the fourth in a series of both successful and attempted suicides to take place on or near the bridge by different men since April. Continue reading »

May 222012
 

Image source: DVIDSHUN via Flickr

Yesterday afternoon U.S. Coast Guard officials announced the end of a search for a man last seen jumping from the 69th Street Pier.

According to the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal, the Coast Guard suspended the search and rescue operation at 4 p.m. yesterday – after covering a 50 square mile radius over 12 hours. Continue reading »

May 022012
 

Source: joo0ey via Flickr

A Staten Island man who tried to jump to his death yesterday was saved after being pulled from the side of the Verrazano Bridge – where he was hanging by just one arm Continue reading »