Drug charges against four men were dropped when a video showed they had no contact with undercover police officers before they were arrested. Four cops had claimed they bought crack cocaine from the men, but the video showed otherwise and prosecutors said the accused men, Jose Colon and Maximo Colon and two others, didn't do the crime. WCBS 2 reports, "In the 6 months it took to clear the Colon brothers names, they lost their......

A number of police unions representing different segments of the NYPD filed a joint complaint against the City with the Board of Collective Bargaining, saying that Mayor Bloomberg's effort to cut the number of park-anywhere-you-feel-like placards is an economic hardship and a violation of state labor laws. The suit does acknowledge that there is nothing in union contracts regarding the issuance of placards, however. One of Bloomberg's anti-congestion initiatives has been to reduce the vast......

The Williamsburg Stabber, who is more than likely a group of stabbers, has struck again. In April two cops walking the beat told us "the increased police presence was in response to a spate of machete-wielding gang violence" -- well, a lot of good the increased security has done. A tipster writes in to tell us about last weekend's Saturday morning stabbing, which police suspect was part of a gang initiation and in step with......

Photo courtesy Clinton Hill Blog. It’s a common complaint from cyclists that the NYPD doesn’t seem too interested in ticketing the myriad drivers who use the city’s bike lanes as a double-parking lot. (My Bike Lane is dedicated to the phenomenon.) And it’s not uncommon to see a cop car idling in a bike lane while the officer does a little shopping. But this is getting ridiculous: A Clinton Hill blog reader reports that the......

Photograph, top, of Alain Robert climbing the Times building by Carol Quillen; photograph, below, of Renaldo Clarke climbing by Michael Chan After two incidents of X-treme attention whoring Thursday afternoon, cops were stationed around the perimeter of the New York Times building on 41st St. Friday, successfully preventing anyone else from taking a shot at scaling the side of the new skyscraper. Famous urban climber Alain Robert drew quite a crowd as he climbed......

In March, simultaneous installations in two Chelsea galleries – one called The Assassination of Barack Obama, the other The Assassination of Hillary Clinton – were canceled “due to extreme legal pressures,” according to LVHRD. This morning the artist, Yazmany Arboleda, again attempted to hang his work in an empty storefront across from the New York Times building and got as far as putting up the name of the exhibit in the window before the......

A gang of five trailed a pair of off-duty cops in Washington Heights around midnight last night and jumped them in an attempted robbery that did not go well. Things went sideways for the assailants almost immediately when one of them initiated the attack by picking up a wooden folding chair from the trash and hitting one of the officers on the back of the head with it. The approach has been known to work......

Someone went on a rampage just before noon yesterday, shooting five people standing at a bus stop in a fusillade of gunfire in Jackson Heights, Queens. It wasn't as much a rampage, exactly, as a reckless attempt to kill a single person by firing into a crowd. The alleged target was a 21-year-old man, who was shot in the side before staggering into a restaurant and collapsing. Police are searching not just for a single......

If you're walking home through the West Village tonight, you may be wishing you'd brought your galoshes, or waders, or a rowboat. A major water main break on West 10th St. has flooded the area surrounding it. Reader Erik Dane ( of The Foggy Monocle) sent us this on-the-spot photo of West 4th completely underwater. He reports that cops and firemen are swarming the area to get the situation under control. So if you're......

Photograph by catelinp on Flick The raccoon seen in a tree at East 88th Street and 1st Avenue ultimately died after the police tried to capture it. The Post reports the cops "bungled" the raccoon rescue operation, firing tranquilizer darts "deep in its body." Animal Control said the animal was euthanized because it would have been "difficult, if not impossible, to remove them." But some residents told the Post the police were joking about......

A man was killed by a "bullet from his own gun" on the roof of a Midtown building at 30 East 40th Street. The police say the man, who was found with "rope, a hacksaw and three Dell laptops in the intruder's backpack," may be a man with a number of burglary and stolen property arrests. A building employee called the police after discovering a break-in. Superintendent Joe Aguasviva told the Daily News he had......

After getting spooked and throwing its mounted officer yesterday, Aldo the police horse managed to make its way home to the station house at 6th Ave. and Ericcson Pl. Aldo freaked out at the sound of screeching brakes in Soho yesterday afternoon, causing him to throw his rider, who was taken to St. Vincent's with minor injuries. After getting the cop off his back, Aldo ran free through the streets before ambling about ten blocks......

Cops are on the lookout for a pants-less NJ man accused of breaking into an Edison, NJ woman's home, disrobing, and molesting its sleeping occupant. The police are now recommending that people not leave windows or doors unlocked because the nude intruder weirdo remains on the loose. Thursday morning, a 39-year-old woman awoke to find a nude man in bed with her and stroking her thigh around 3 a.m. He was an uninvited guest and......

Reader Rob J. sent us this photo taken through a window looking out on Sixth Ave between Charlton and Vandam, snapped right after a police officer was thrown from his horse. We're told the officer has a shoulder injury, the horse is okay and was brought to the stable, and there's nothing more to see here, folks.......

Six employees at a Manhattan S&M; club were arrested this week and arraigned on misdemeanor prostitution charges yesterday. The women were busted for offering more than the standard whips, chains, and ropes that other dungeons offer. The six women, ranging in age from 19 to 39, allegedly offered to extend their services to full sexual intercourse for an additional $220. That's when undercover cops had to say the safety word, "Busted." Presumably, they weren't trussed......

Starting today, teams of six NYPD officers will be patrolling the subway system in 12 hour shifts to thwart would-be terrorists. You’ll be able to easily identify the squads – called “Torch Teams” – by their rifles, MP5 submachine guns, handguns, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs. The program is being paid for with $151 million from taxpayers nationwide, allocated through D.C. The Torch Teams will function like the similarly equipped NYPD “Hercules Teams” (pictured) above......

Photo courtesy Gothamist reader Heather D. One Park Slope resident emailed us to describe a surprising scene unfolding this morning on 4th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.I went out for my coffee around 10am and there were 4 white undercover SUVs, an NYPD emergency truck and a large, black DEP/HAZMAT truck/mobile unit parked on my street! When I came back from my coffee run I saw a Fire Dept. SUV parked at the 6th......

Photos from MyFOX News Police patrolling the East River near the United Nations as part of increased security linked to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the General Assembly diverted their attentions momentarily to rescue a beaver who seemed to be in distress. Cops noticed that the animal, which was four feet long and weighed 40 pounds, seemed to be laboring in the strong currents of the East River and was swimming awkwardly. Quick-thinking officers......

Earlier in the week, unconfirmed reports of a knife-wielding assailant had Williamsburg residents on edge; South Williamsburg in particular has been flooded with patrolmen all week, and we’ve heard from readers who say they’ve been written summons for minor offenses like jaywalking. Though the 90th Precinct and the NYPD press liaison are unforthcoming about the dragnet, two officers walking their beat by the future Pies ‘n’ Thighs location on Driggs and South 4th Street told......

It's not unusual for police officers to make side money by moonlighting with second jobs. Christian Torres is a rookie cop, however, who took that practice to a whole new level--allegedly robbing banks when off duty. On Thursday, Torres arrested in Pennsylvania less than a block from the bank he just robbed. Unaware the teller had tripped a silent alarm and that a police officer followed him, he showed his NYPD badge, thinking he was......

A 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter in the Friday night death of a Columbia graduate student. According to a Daily News source, the boy bragged to his 15-year-old friend before chasing Ming-Hui Yu, "Look what I do to this one." The teen and his friends apparently hassled Yu, a 24-year-old Ph.D. student in statistics and a teaching fellow, at the median at Broadway and 122nd Street. The Post reports one "punched......

Police released a sketch of a man who they suspect is not just the man who attacked a woman at a Staten Island bus stop early Thursday morning, but may be a serial attacker who could have attacked another woman earlier this year. The latest attack occurred when a 25-year-old woman got off a bus in the Eltingville section of Staten Island at 2 a.m. Almost immediately, she was thrown to the ground, by a......

Seattle's police department is capitalizing on the NYPD's current budget and recruiting woes by giving potential recruits less of a reason to sign up to join the force in New York. Seattle is paying for a huge billboard along the West Side Highway advertising for recruits. The billboard and bus stop ads link to a site that details much higher rookie pay and faster wage increases. Per the Daily News,Seattle pays its police recruits......

Accused assistant to Murray Hill Madame Kristin Davis, Grace O'Toole, turned herself in yesterday, perhaps realizing that escape from both the NYPD and the NY Media was an impossible mission. After her alleged boss was arrested and jailed on $2 million bail for running a prostitution ring linked to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, O'Toole took off, although she was described very accurately by someone who witnessed her flight as wearing over-sized sunglasses, and carrying......

New York Ranger forward Sean Avery may be on thin ice with any woman he's currently seeing, as his name popped up in the spreadsheets of Murray Hill madame Kristin "Billie" Davis. The distaff pimp was arrested after being linked to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer--one-time state attorney general and longtime whore connoisseur. Avery denies that he knows Davis or ever used a prostitute, laughing off the incident as a practical joke by someone familiar with......

Police arrested a man yesterday as a suspect in the rapes of two women in the Van Dyke Houses complex in Brooklyn. Thomas Boker was charged with rape and robbery after being taken to Kings County Hospital for a psychiatric examination. Police say that 29-year-old Boker was about to be charged when he started to act disoriented and didn't seem to know who he was. Cops linked Boker to the rapes with forensic evidence. The......

Surveillance video shows that two rookie police officers were not patrolling a Brooklyn housing complex where a 30-year-old woman was raped in a stairwell last week. The two officers were disciplined for lying about doing their jobs, when in fact they were not. The victim of the assault was trailed from the subway by a man she recognized from the neighborhood and he followed her into her building's elevator. After producing a knife as she......

According to new NYPD statistics, graffiti complaints in Brooklyn rose 96% last year, with arrests in the borough increasing by 33%. Citywide, complaints almost doubled from 4,886 in 2006 to 8,866 in 2007, and total arrests rose from 2,962 to 3,786. Williamsburg leads the tagging trend with a total of 186 complaints. “It's so expensive here, yet it looks like a dump,” long-time Williamsburg resident Mel Costello, 63, declared to the Daily News. “It's......

Big gas guzzling SUV's aren't completely worthless, especially if you need to withdraw some cash in a hurry. A surveillance camera in Orange County New York shows an intrepid robber ramming the back of his SUV through the front of a convenience store in an effort to steal its ATM--the whole machine. Starting at the top left and going clockwise, you can see 1) the SUV slamming through the front of the store 2)......

A Bronx man was shot in the hand after exhibiting what could charitably be described as foolhardy behavior Friday. Perhaps we are too immersed in stories like Amadou Diallou and Sean Bell, but the story of a driver in the Bronx left us shaking our heads. After the man was pulled over once and then peeled out before police could exit their car, he was pulled over again, and then took off again. A short......