Man Dead on LES Sidewalk After Leap from Manhattan Bridge, Cops Say

LOWER EAST SIDE — A 33-year-old man was found dead on Cherry Street after police responded to reports of a possible suicide near the Manhattan Bridge, cops said.

The victim, who had not been identified Saturday, was lying on the sidewalk, and discovered at 8:09 p.m. Friday, between Market and Pike streets, police said.

He was dead at the scene, police said.

While the cause of death had yet to be determined by a medical examiner, police said it appeared the man had jumped from the Manhattan Bridge.

An investigation was ongoing, police said.

By DNAinfo

Cops Attacked With Bottles in East Flatbush, NYPD Says

BROOKLYN — Police were pelted with bottles after what a city councilman described as a "peaceful vigil" turned violent in East Flatbush Monday evening.

The violence started about 8:30 p.m. when "a large, disorderly group [began] throwing bottles at police" at Church Avenue and East 48th Street, an NYPD source said.

The crowd also surged into the Rite Aid on Church Avenue near Albany Street and trashed it about 9:15 p.m., pulling items off the shelves and attacking the store manager, clerks and security guard, the FDNY said. The group stole some items from the store and cash from the register, sources said.

One man who had been assaulted and was bleeding from the head was rushed to Kings County Hospital in unknown condition, the FDNY said.

Some surrounding shop windows were smashed, sources said, as were the windows of a B35 bus, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, adding that no one connected with the bus was hurt.

City Councilman Jumaane Williams raced to the scene to try to quell the violence, which his spokesman said was related to theNYPD's fatal shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, who was allegedly armed. The shooting occurred Saturday night, just a few blocks away from where the violence began Monday evening.

"I'm in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district," Williamstweeted. "Right now, things are tense. Young people have expressed anger."

Williams estimated the crowd at 60 to 100 people and said he was "trying to defuse the tension."

"Tonight was a peaceful vigil [for Gray] that devolved into a riot," Williams added. "The youth in this community have no outlets for their anger, no community center."

One person was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokeswoman said. No police officers were injured, the spokeswoman added.

The violence had ended by 10:15 p.m., officials said.

Police Fatally Shoot Armed 16-Year-Old in Brooklyn, Cops Say

EAST FLATBUSH — Police shot and killed a 16-year-old boy late Saturday night after he pointed a gun at cops who had approached him as he was breaking away from a group of his friends, authorities said.

The teenager, Kimani Gray, 16, of Crown Heights, was spotted by anti-crime patrol officers working in an unmarked car as he stood with a group of friends outside an East 52nd Street building near Snyder Avenue, police said.

When the officers were noticed by the group of young men, they saw Kimani fidget with his waistband and then break away from the group and act suspiciously, police said.

Two officers exited their vehicle and attempted to speak with the young man around 11:25 p.m., according to police, when Kimani allegedly turned on them and pointed a .38 caliber pistol at the cops.

Police said both officers fired at the suspect, hitting Kimani in several places on his torso and legs, cops said. The boy was rushed toKings County Hospital but declared dead on arrival, police said. Both officers were treated at Methodist Hospital and treated for trauma and tinnitus.

Kimani's uncle, Cecil Nunes, 65, said the boy and his mother, Carol, an out-of-work chef, had lived with him in Crown Heights for a year until a week ago, when the two moved back to the neighborhood Kimani was raised in, East Flatbush.

"I don't what he was up to last night. I don't know what happened," said Nunes, his voice trembling. "He was respectful, but a typical teenager. I have to ask myself why this happened. Why, why, why," he said.

The boy's mother had to be hospitalized after she learned of her son's death, said Nunes, and she had just been released Sunday morning.

Police said an investigation was ongoing.

Sources said Kimani had had a criminal record, including charges for breaking into a car, possession of stolen property, grand larceny and rioting.

The shooting was the second police-involved shooting of the day, following a confrontation between police and a driver at 1:15 p.m. in Staten Island, cops said. 

Two gang squad detectives and a police officer attempted to stop a white 2012 Toyota Camry on Manor Road, after receiving a tip that the driver had a gun, police said.

Two plainclothes officers approached the car but the driver tried to flee in the car, pinning one detective against another vehicle with the car, police said, before appearing to reach for a weapon. That's when an officer shot him, police said.

The officers and suspect were transported to area hospitals, and all were in stable condition. Police recovered a .44 caliber revolver at the scene and later arrested Clinton James, 33, of Staten Island, for assaulting a police officer, criminal possession and use of a firearm, and reckless endangerment, among other charges.

19 Hospitalized After High-Rise Fire on Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE — Ten residents and nine firefighters were injured in a two-alarm blaze that broke out in the wee hours on Saturday morning, fire officials said.

The fire broke out at 3:42 a.m. at 1763 Second Ave., near East 92nd Street, and took 110 firefighters nearly two hours to put the flames down at 5:34 a.m., officials said.

The fire came from the 12th floor of the 40-story tower, and an FDNY spokesman said it did not appear to be suspicious in nature, though an investigation was ongoing.

The majority of victims were in stable condition or had been released, according to the FDNY, though one individual was in serious condition, officials said.

Residents outside the building, which Buildings Department records show is part of Knickerbocker Plaza, said Saturday said that fires had been an increasingly common occurance, and some blamed the building's management.

"This is like the twelfth fire in the last two years," said Robin Davenport, 61, who has lived in the building, part of Knickerbocker Plaza,  for 38 years. "We have so many fires in this building. It just doesn't make sense. I think something is very wrong," she said. 

Another resident who did not want her last name used, named Vicky, said her dog Buddy Boy woke her up in the middle of the night by licking her face and barking.

"I was petrified. I just came out now to get some fresh air, and then I'm going back in to get my dog," she said.

Both residents said they were stuck walking up the stairs more than 20 flights to get home after the fire.

Representatives from Knickerbocker Plaza, LLC were not able to be reached by phone Saturday, and a message left for the management company was not returned.

Parents To-Be Die in Williamsburg Crash, Baby Delivered Alive

WILLIAMSBURG — A young, expecting couple was killed in a car accident early Sunday, which sent three to the hopsital and had two fleeing the scene of the 12:10 a.m. smashup on Kent Avenue. 

Raizy and Nathan Gluber, both 21, of Clymer Street, died when their Toyta Camry livery cab headed westbound on Wilson Street was struck by a BMW sedan headed northbound on Kent Avenue, police said.

The 32-year-old driver and the pregnant mother Raizy Gluber, were rushed to Bellevue Hospital following the crash, where medics delivered Gluber's premature baby boy, cops said, and where Gluber was declared dead on arrival. The male driver was listed in stable condition, police said.

Family friends, who are members of the same Orthodox community as the parents, said the infant boy was in serious condition at Bellevue, and that the couple had been on their way to the hopsital when the crash occurred, according to NBC.

"Now we just pray with the child that all medical efforts keep him alive," Isaac Abraham, a neighbor of Raizy Glauber's parents, told NBC.

Nathan Gluber was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital following the crash, where he, too, was declared dead on arrival.

A funeral service will take place at the Satmar synagogue at 152 Rodney Street today at 2 p.m., according to Voz iz Neias, a Jewish community newspaper.

Police said the operator and a passenger in the grey 2010 BMW fled the scene, leaving the car there, after smashing into the driver's side portion of the livery cab. Neither of the passengers has been apprehended yet, police said.

An investigation is ongoing, police said.

By DNAinfo

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Police Officer Stabbed in Head Promoted to Detective

DOWNTOWN — The officer who was nearly killed last April when he was stabbed in the head by an emotionally disturbed man in East Harlem received a standing ovation while he was promoted to detective during a ceremony Friday at police headquarters.

Eder Loor, 29, and his partner Luckson Merisme responded to a call of a person behaving erratically at the Franklin Plaza complex on Third Avenue on April 17. They were met outside the building by a woman who said her son was bipolar and was "behaving erratically," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during the ceremony.

The officers entered the building, where they ran into the man, 26-year-oldTerrance Hale.

Loor and his partner tried to get Hale to wait for medical attention, but he wouldn't listen and walked out of the building.

"Concerned that the man might pose a danger to the public the officers attempted to prevent him from leaving," Kelly said. "Without any warning, he plunged a three-and-a-half-inch knife into officer Loor's left temple, penetrating his skull."

Loor, who is also a trained medical technician, pulled the knife out himself and then flagged down an ambulance.

"He was brought to the hospital in critical condition and underwent extensive surgery," Kelly said. "Doctors determined that the blade had nicked Officer Loor's middle cerebral artery, which is severed would have been fatal. It also stopped within an inch of the temporal lobe that controls speech and a half-inch from an area that handles motor function. He was incredibly lucky."

He was out of the hospital just two weeks later and returned home to his wife and then 4-year-old daughter.

Loor walked slowly but unassisted across the stage to receive his promotion from Kelly, while more than 100 officers and family members clapped.

"Officer Loor continues to undergo rehabilitation for his injury," Kelly said. "His survival has been called a miracle. We know that it is due most of all to his remarkable strength and fortitude."

Hale is facing attempted murder charges and is due back in court on March 14.

By DNAinfo

Dad Doesn't Blame Crossing Guard For Accident That Killed His Son

EAST HARLEM — The father of 6-year-oldAmar Diarrassouba, who was killed by a tractor trailer on his way to school in East Harlem, said he doesn't blame the crossing guard who wasn't at her post when the horrific crash occurred Thursday.

"I don't blame her," Sidiki Diarrassouba said while choking back tears at the family's apartment. "She knew my kid. She loved my kid."

Devastated loved ones said Amar was a "very smart" boy who loved to read the Koran and "liked school."

"He was so smart. He loved everybody," his mother, Mehichata Diarressouba, said Thursday. "He was a wonderful boy."

Flavia Roman, 55, was suspended without pay Thursday evening after investigators found that she wasn't at East 117th and First Avenue earlier that day when a food truck slammed into Amar as he walked to school at P.S. 155 William Pacca with his older brother.

It's still unclear whether Roman was absent the entire morning or had only temporarily stepped away.

"She feels horrible. She's been crying nonstop," said Kevin Faga, Roman's lawyer. "She knew the child. She really liked the child."

Faga declined to say where Roman was when Amar was hit, citing the pending investigation.

Roman, who does not have a disciplinary history, called the local precinct to say she was at her post at 7:30 a.m., according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But investigators learned that she wasn't there when she made the call or at the time the accident occurred. 

"If you have to leave you should call back in and say that you're are leaving," Kelly said at an NYPD event Friday afternoon. "It was appropriate to suspend her, in my judgment."

Roman may face internal disciplinary action, but likely won't be brought up on any criminal charges, Kelly said.

The driver of the truck also won't face criminal charges, but has been issued a summons for failing to yield.

Amar's father said he appreciated Roman's service and doesn't hold her accountable for his son's death, echoing a sentiment among the community.

"She has a very good history. She has been on the job for 10 years and she worked on that post, in essence, for 10 years," Kelly said. "She was very well received by the community."

A friend of hers and former crossing guard herself, 65-year-old Felicita Gaston, said Roman was "a good Christian woman."

"She's an awesome person," Gaston said. "I can't say nothing negative about Flavia."

"I know she liked her job," Gaston added. "She took it seriously."

Amar regularly attended weekend classes at the al-Aqsa mosque on Eighth Avenue, near West 116th Street, and loved to read the Koran, according to the imam there, Konate Souleimane.

"He was a regular boy like any boy born in America. He liked school," Souleimane said. "He liked American food — French fries, fried chicken, pizza."

The boy's funeral will be held at the mosque 9 a.m. Sunday morning, Souleimane said.

In the meantime, he said he's doing what he can to help Amar's family.

Friday morning, family and friends flocked to the Diarrassouba household to grieve with the family. Some cooked meals. But little could console Amar's parents.

"Every time I talk about it, I start to cry," Amar's father said. "Allah gave him to me. He's taking him back."