New York, New Jersey, Connecticut News

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Police hunt for suspects in Bronx subway stabbing

BRONX (WABC) -- Police are searching for two suspects in connection with the stabbing of a man early Saturday morning at a Bronx subway station.

The victim of the stabbing is in critical but stable condition at St. Barnabas hospital.

The incident happened in the Fordham section of the Bronx.

Police have released security camera of the two suspets they're looking for.

It shows a man and woman in an apartment building in the Bronx, shortly after the assault on the platform of the number 4 train.

Police say a 19 year old man was stabbed at least six times after confronting a man who stole his smartphone.

According to investigators, the victim and a friend were riding the train just before 4 a.m., when they fell asleep.

The victim woke up and noticed that his pocket had been slashed and his phone, gone.

He then spotted a man with his phone on the train car.

They all got off, and the victim confronted the suspect, who in turn, pulled out a knife.

The victim's friend ran for help.

When he came back to the platform, his buddy had been stabbed in his head, neck, chest and torso.

In surveillance video from another nearby store, detectives are seen arriving to the scene just minutes after the stabbing.

The victim left a trail of blood down three levels of the station, from the platform to the landing near the token booth, and all the way down the stairs to the exit on Fordham.

Number 4 trains were bypassing the Fordham Road Station while police investigated.

The suspect was with a woman on the train.

He was wearing a baseball hat with the letters "LA" on it.

Police have been looking through surveillance video from the subway and nearby stores to track him down.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

new york city, bronx, subway, subway crime, new york news, darla miles

View the original article here

Rangers defeat Capitals in Game 1, 3-1

Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK -- Chris Kreider is six games into his NHL career and days shy of his 21st birthday.

And yet the Stanley Cup playoffs are anything but overwhelming for the newest New York Rangers forward who has quickly become a hit on Broadway.

Kreider scored the go-ahead goal and then set up Brad Richards' insurance tally 90 seconds later in the third period to lift New York to a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday in the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Kreider, who earlier this month helped Boston College win the NCAA championship, scored the second goal of his NHL career - and these playoffs - and he did it at the perfect time to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead 7:00 into the third.

Both Kreider's goals have been playoff game-winners. He also had the deciding marker in New York's Game 6 victory at Ottawa when the Rangers played the first of two potential elimination games in the first round.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," Kreider said. "I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard. Whether or not the puck goes in, I'm just trying to play the same role I play every night and be consistent and be defensively reliable."

Kreider got into the Rangers lineup only because fellow rookie Carl Hagelin was suspended for three games when he elbowed Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson in Game 2. Kreider's play kept him on the ice even after Hagelin returned, and he is just one goal off the team lead through eight games of the playoffs.

Despite not yet playing a regular-season game, Kreider is already hearing his name celebrated at Madison Square Garden. He is the first player to win an NCAA title and make his NHL debut in that year's playoffs since John Byce did it with Boston in 1990.

"It's a surreal experience," said Kreider, whose birthday is on Monday - the same day as Game 2. "I got goose bumps, obviously. I was really tired after the goal, but I didn't feel so tired when they started chanting."

Richards made it a two-goal lead off a feed from Kreider, and gave a two-fisted punch into the glass behind goalie Braden Holtby to celebrate his third goal of the playoffs. It marked the first time that Washington trailed by two goals in the playoffs.

Henrik Lundqvist earned the win, and needed to make only 17 saves to do it. The Rangers mustered just 14 shots on Holtby, but scored on two in a row to put the game away.

Artem Anisimov scored in the first period for the Rangers, who played without injured forwards Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky. Boyle missed his third straight game because of a concussion sustained in Game 5 of the first-round series against Ottawa. Dubinsky was hurt in the third period Thursday night when New York edged the Senators 2-1 to win Game 7.

Defenseman Steve Eminger returned from injury to fill in, and saw limited action as a forward.

Jason Chimera scored the lone goal for the Capitals to tie it 1-1 in the closing seconds of the second period. Washington was coming off a seven-game victory over Boston in the first round.

The Rangers are trying to exact a measure of revenge against the Capitals, who eliminated New York from the playoffs last year and in 2009. The seventh-seeded Capitals have won four of the six previous postseason meetings, and they split four regular-season games this season against the East's top-seeded team.

Capitals star Alex Ovechkin felt the brunt of the venom from the fans, who booed him and sent derisive chants in his direction several times during the game. "Two mistakes cost us in goals," Ovechkin said. "We talk about how we have to play much better and we have to step up. It's only one game. (Monday) it's going to be a new day, and we have to stay tight." Derek Stepan made a crisp pass out of his end to Kreider. Capitals defenseman Mike Green aborted a trip to the bench and raced to get back into position, but Kreider ripped a drive past Holtby before Green could stop him. "We need to be more aggressive," Green said. "We were a little bit on our heels." Kreider changed his game plan because he was at the end of an exhausting shift. "There was an opening, so I thought I'd hit it, and Stepan made a nice pass," he said. "The minute I got it, I would usually try to take that to the net, but I had to pull up since I was so tired. I was just trying to get it on net." Holtby said he was fooled by Kreider's release on the shot. Then Kreider foiled the Capitals with a pass. Richards dived to keep the puck in the Washington end at the left point and then took a feed from Kreider from along the side boards. Richards made a shifty move in front of Holtby and put a shot past him to make it 3-1. Washington nearly got that one back, but Green's long drive was deflected by teammate Nicklas Backstrom off the post soon after. The Capitals had grabbed momentum with only 5.1 seconds left in the second period and silenced the rocking crowd when Chimera took a cross-crease pass from Brooks Laich and deftly sneaked the puck between Lundqvist's pads. Chimera has quieted the Garden crowd before. He netted the winning goal in double overtime of last year's Game 4 that gave the Capitals a 3-1 series lead en route to a victory in five games. His latest goal knocked out the remaining buzz created by Anisimov's series-opening tally with 7:22 remaining in the second. "That could have hurt us big time, but we came in here, regrouped, talked about staying patient and just let the game come to us," Lundqvist said. "Coming from that Game 7, such an emotional and big win, it was important for us to regroup and start all over. This team doesn't give up much so we have to be smart with pucks. They kind of wait for mistakes, so the key for us is not to make too many." Anisimov's goal was reminiscent of the one scored by Stephane Matteau that ended the 1994 Eastern Conference finals against New Jersey, the last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. Matteau was in attendance Saturday and was shown on the center ice video board - flashing his championship ring - just moments before Anisimov made it 1-0. NOTES: New York has won Game 1 in five of its past eight series. The Rangers are 31-11 when winning the opener, including six of the past seven. ... The Rangers managed only eight shots through two periods, compared to 13 for Washington, and just three were recorded by forwards. ... Eminger, who logged 4:25 of ice time in four shifts, missed the previous 19 games because of an injury sustained on March 15 against Pittsburgh. ... Washington won three road games in its first-round series against Boston. All seven games of that series were decided by one goal.

---
FOR MORE NEW YORK SPORTS CLICK HERE TO VISIT ESPN NEW YORK

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Get more Hockey »

new york rangers, hockey

var abcNewsTopHeadlinesFeeds = new Array();abcNewsTopHeadlinesFeeds[0] = "http://a.abcnews.com/xmldata/rss?id=4380645";

// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/wabc/xml?id=5758260&ptnr=promoCarousel");(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

View the original article here

Romney, Gingrich, GSA: Obama tweaks them all

Eyewitness NewsWASHINGTON -- This year's primaries, the 2008 primaries, the General Services Administration scandal, even the Secret Service and Donald Trump were targets for President Barack Obama's scattershot humor at Saturday night's celebrity studded White House Correspondents Dinner.

Even the entrance to his speech was part of his schtick. The president walked off stage just before he took the podium with an alleged "hot mic," making fun of getting caught last month on an open microphone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"What am I doing here," he asks off stage. "I'm opening for Jimmy Kimmel and telling knock-knock jokes to Kim Kardashian."

Once on stage, the president revisited last year's dinner.

"Last year at this time, this very weekend, we finally delivered justice to one of the world's most notorious individuals," Obama said, a seeming reference to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Instead, a picture of Trump appeared on the room's television monitors. Obama last year delivered a scathing roast of Donald Trump, the real estate mogul who flirted with running for the Republican nomination and claimed he has solved the "mystery" of Obama's birth certificate.

He took a shot at the Republican congressional leadership, whom he thanked "for taking time from their exhausting schedule of not passing any laws" to attend the dinner.

Four years ago, he recalled, he was locked in a tough primary fight with Hillary Clinton, now his secretary of state. "She can't stop drunk texting me from Cartagena," he said, referring to their recent trip to the Summit of the Americas in Columbia.

This year, Obama is the incumbent, but the dinner was far from a campaign-free zone. The president pointed out his similarities with the presumed nominee, Mitt Romney.

"We both think of our wives as our better halves, and the American people agree to an insulting extent," the president said.

"We both have degrees from Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob."

The crack drew a thumbs up from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who dropped out of the presidential primary campaign earlier this month. Santorum had called Obama a snob for encouraging young Americans to attend college.

But Obama touched on serious themes as well, remembering The New York Times' Anthony Shadid and Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London who died while covering the uprising in Syria.

"Never forget that our country depends on you to help protect our freedom, our democracy and our way of life," Obama said.

Then he returned to the lighter side: "I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew."

Among those who attended Saturday night's dinner were former Secretary of State Colin Powell, the cast of the hit TV show "Modern Family," singer John Legend, actor George Clooney, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., director Steven Spielberg and actress Zooey Deschanel.

Proceeds from the dinner go toward scholarships for aspiring journalists and awards for distinction in the profession.

The association was formed in 1914 as a liaison between the press and the president. Every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended the dinner. Some of the proceeds from the dinner pay for journalism scholarships for college students.

Several journalists will also be honored at the dinner:

- Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Chris Hawley of The Associated Press, for winning the Edgar A. Poe Award for their stories about the New York City Police Department's widespread surveillance of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It's the fourth major prize for the series, which has also won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a George Polk Award.

- ABC's Jake Tapper and Politico's Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan, for winning the Merriman Smith Award for excellence in presidential coverage under pressure. Tapper won in the broadcast category for breaking the news that rating agency Standard & Poor's was on the verge of downgrading the federal government's triple-A credit rating because of concerns over political gridlock in Washington. In the print category, Thrush, Budoff Brown, Raju and Bresnahan of Politico won for their report on the deal between Obama and congressional Republicans to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

- Scott Wilson, of The Washington Post, for winning the Aldo Beckman award. Wilson was recognized for his "deeply reported and nuanced stories, his evocative writing and his clear presentation of complex issues, particularly on the foreign policy front."

---
GET THE LATEST NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS FROM ABCNEWS.COM

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

u.s. & world news

View the original article here

1 dead after storm blows St. Louis beer tent over

By JIM SALTERST. LOUIS -- High winds swept through a beer tent where 200 people gathered after a Cardinals game Saturday, killing one and seriously injuring at least five others, authorities said.

The owner of the bar where the tent was set up said firefighters told him that the patron who died was struck by lightning, but Deputy Fire Chief John Altmann and Public Safety Director Eddie Roth said they didn't know what killed the man.

At least 17 people were hospitalized, including five who were initially in critical condition but are now said to be in serious condition. Up to 100 people were treated at the scene, mostly for minor injuries such as cuts and bruises.

Officials said straight-line winds whipped through the large tent outside Kilroy's Sports Bar, near Busch Stadium. The crowd was celebrating after the Cardinals beat Milwaukee 7-3 earlier in the afternoon.

Roth said winds of about 50 mph shattered aluminum poles that held up the tent, which was located south of the stadium. The force of the wind blew the tent onto an adjacent railroad bridge.

"It was crazy, scary," said Annie Randall, whose family owns Kilroy's. "We're just so sorry this happened."

Kilroy's owner Art Randall described a short burst of a storm - perhaps five seconds, he said - with a massive wind that lifted the huge tent, threw it perhaps 100 feet into the air and sent the aluminum poles and most everything in the tent airborne.

When he heard the boom, he initially thought a train had derailed into the tent.

As the wind blew, a bolt of lightning crashed into the bar, Randall said. He said firefighters told him it was a lightning strike - not flying debris - that killed the man.

"At some point in that five seconds, we were getting lightning strikes, and apparently one of our customers got hit by lightning right in the middle of the dance floor," Randall said.

The bar owner said he screamed for help and three customers ran over to administer CPR, but they couldn't save the man.

Randall said he looked around "and saw 50 bodies scattered everywhere."

The man who died appeared to be in his 50s, Roth said. His name has not been released.

Roth said the tent had passed inspection and it didn't appear there would be any violation, although the investigation is ongoing.

Randall described a scene in which barstools, pedestals and a 100-pound bass amplifier were flying through the air. The disc jockey working the party was struck by the amp and knocked unconscious, the bar owner said, and people were scurrying to help one another.

"My wife had people in the beer cooler - we had the beer cooler loaded with injuries," Randall said. "It was a triage deal."

Kilroy's is among several bars near Busch Stadium, and many bars set up tents for the excess business after Cardinals games. Crowds were also large because the St. Louis Blues were playing against the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night in the first game of the NHL's Western Conference semifinals.

The St. Louis area was under thunderstorm and tornado warnings several times Saturday. About two hours after the incident at Kilroy's, tornado sirens blared throughout the city after a funnel cloud sighting. There were several reports of tree damage, power lines down and damage from hail that in some parts of the region reportedly was as big as tennis balls.

---
GET THE LATEST NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS FROM ABCNEWS.COM

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

u.s. & world news

View the original article here

Brookhaven crash kills former high school football star

Eyewitness NewsBROOKHAVEN (WABC) -- Former high school football star Willie Davis of Bellport was killed when the car in which he was riding went out of control and crashed Friday night on the Montauk Highway in Brookhaven.

Dozens of grief-stricken friends and family gathered for a vigil Saturday night to mourn Davis's death.

"He was my uncle. I'm never going to see him again and that's hard to digest for me," said Davis's niece, Daejianna Claiborne.

"He had a great personality," said a friend, Lauren Demas.

"He walked into the room and it lit up no matter what the mood was in the room."

Davis was in the car with his cousin Jasheem Trent, who was driving when the car went spiraling out of control.

It happened around 3:30 Saturday morning on Montauk Highway in Brookhaven.

Investigators say Trent was speeding when his vehicle crossed over the double yellow line, left the roadway and overturned.

He's in the hospital with serious injuries.

Meanwhile Davis's former teammates from the Bellport high school football team also came to the vigil.

Joe Cipp Jr. coached Davis, but become more of a mentor to him.

"He came over to see me Easter Sunday and he gave me a hug," said Cipp.

"Unfortunately that was the last time I saw him, will see him."

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

long island, brookhaven, accident, long island news
// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/wabc/xml?id=5758260&ptnr=promoCarousel");

View the original article here

Mel Gibson on recent rant: I've got a little bit of a temper

Mel Gibson opened up about his most recent controversy on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and joked with the late night host about his short fuse.

"Maybe you don't know this about me, but I've got a little bit of a temper," Gibson told Jay Leno. "It's been kind of weird over the past few years - it's like living in a bad B-movie... how did I get here? It is bizarre."

Gibson recently made headlines for a rant made against screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who was attached to the actor's upcoming controversial film about the ancient Jewish hero Judah Maccabee.

Eszterhas, who also wrote the scripts for the movies "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls," accused the 56-year-old actor of anti-Semitism in a 9-page letter and has posted to the website The Wrap an audio tape of what is supposedly Gibson, yelling and hurling expletives.

"The guy writes a nine-page letter. I mean if he put half as much time and effort and creativity and imagination into a screenplay, which he was supposed to write, as he did into that letter, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Gibson said on the show. "It's kind of like you build a house, you hire a guy to put a roof on it. He comes over and eats lunch and talks about the roof and then you get rained on all night. Wouldn't you get kind of peeved."

The actor's spokesperson declined to comment about the recording. Gibson has struggled to resurrect his career following a 2006 drunk driving arrest, during which he ranted against Jews. He says Eszterhas' description of his "statements and actions" are "utter fabrications."

This wasn't the first Gibson rant to go viral. A taped phone conversation between him and Oksana Grigorieva, which also featured him hurling expletives as well as racist comments, was released to the tabloid website RadarOnline in August 2010 as the two were engaged in a custody battle over their daughter. The actor claims that tape was edited, which his ex-girlfriend denies.

Gibson was charged with misdemeanor battery over a past confrontation with Grigorieva and made a plea deal. He was sentenced to informal probation for 36 months and was also ordered to undergo counseling for anger management and domestic violence prevention, which he completed last month. If he violates his probation, Gibson could face up to a year in prison.

Gibson issued an apology after his infamous 2006 arrest, during which he allegedly said: "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." He pleaded no contest to the DUI charge and was sentenced to three years of probation and underwent alcohol rehabilitation.

Gibson's newest film "Get The Gringo" is slated for release on May 1. In the movie, the actor plays a man who gets himself locked up in a rough Mexican prison and learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.

Watch Gibson's appearance on "The Late Show with Jay Leno" and a trailer for "Get the Gringo" below.

View the original article here