Almost half of all accidental subway fatalities happen to riders with alcohol in their bloodstreams, according to a study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, which looked at data on subway deaths between 1990 and 2003. 145 of the 315 accidental fatalities during that time period were found to involve some degree of alcohol, though the report doesn't specify how blotto the victims were, if at all. Nevertheless, report co-author professor Robyn Gershon......

Today the tourists have been taking a break from Times Square and mingling with local John Lennon fans to pay tribute to the musician. 28 years ago today he was killed in front of his home at The Dakota (where his wife Yoko Ono still lives), and now the spot has become one of the New York City landmarks in which to remember the former Beatle. Earlier today there were some tourists overheard asking the......

This coming week, throngs of John Lennon fans will come together once again to celebrate his life and remember the day that he was murdered outside of his home at the Dakota. The Beatle was shot on the night of December 8th (28 years ago this Monday) by Mark David Chapman (who was just denied parole again). Shortly after, he was pronounced dead at Roosevelt Hospital, and was later cremated in Hartsdale, New York. Today,......

In defending the city against a lawsuit brought by the family of a San Francisco musician who died after riding the Cyclone last year, a city attorney is insisting that the roller coaster's potentially fatal dangers are "obvious." While riding the Cyclone on his birthday in July 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa fractured three neck vertebrae and died four days later after complications from surgery. In the lawsuit, his family contends that the Parks Department is......

Creator of the television series ER, and writer of novels like "Jurassic Park" and "The Andromeda Strain," Michael Crichton has died at the age of 66. Though he was fighting a battle with cancer, his family is calling it "an unexpected death." Raised in Roslyn, Long Island, Crichton took some ambitious paths leading him to both Harvard Medical School and Hollywood. His family released a statement saying, "While the world knew him as a great......

On July 31st, 2007, 53-year-old Keith Shirasawa celebrated his birthday by riding the Coney Island Cyclone. Five days later he was dead. The San Fransisco musician fractured three neck vertebrae during the Cyclone's first 85-foot drop and later died after complications from surgery. His family has now filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing that the Parks Department is at fault for not inspecting the Landmark ride regularly. (The Parks Department contracts a private company......

NYMag calls the time of death 30 years ago this month: when Nancy Spungen was killed at the Hotel Chelsea. The story of her October 12th murder, followed by Sid Vicious's arrest and death, and years of confusion as to who actually had her blood on their hands (many believe it to be the drug dealer) has all been poured over time and time again. The Mag now looks at the incident in relation to......

19-year-old David Diaz (pictured here with his former girlfriend) recently moved from Harlem to the Bronx, but on the last night of his life he was palling around with friends in his old neighborhood, tossing eggs off a roof on West 135th Street. When one of their targets headed up on the roof to confront the teens—wielding a knife according to one report—the youths scattered. The Daily News says that Diaz, his right arm in......

Last week, a man's body was found in a suitcase, at a park in Yonkers (the dead man's leg fell out of the suitcase when a park worker went to inspect). Now an autopsy has found that the man had 50 heroin packets in his body. Police think he died when one or two broke open. Westchester County police said that the street value of the drugs was about $100,000. They do not think the......

Hundreds of officers from the NYPD and elsewhere came out to pay their respects to Lieutenant Michael Pigott yesterday at the first day of his wake in Islip. Pigott died Thursday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a week after being embroiled in a media frenzy following the Taser-induced death of an emotionally disturbed man. Friends and family paid tribute to Pigott yesterday with one lifelong friend telling Newsday, "He was a gentle-hearted person, big heart,......

The wake for NYPD Lieutenant Michael Pigott, who killed himself on Thursday, is being held in Islip, Long Island today and tomorrow, with funeral service on Monday. Pigott shot himself in the head at Emergency Service Unit headquarters, apparently racked with guilt and worry after his command led to the fatal Tasering of emotionally disturbed man, Iman Morales, in Brooklyn on September 24. However, the Brooklyn DA's office said they weren't thinking about charging him......

NYPD Emergency Services Unit Lieutenant Michael Pigott, who killed himself yesterday morning, left behind a suicide note noting his remorse and concern over his family. A police source told the Post, "He didn't want his family to see him cuffed up and jailed. The guy felt he disgraced his family." Last week, Pigott ordered a sergeant to Taser an emotionally disturbed man, Iman Morales, who was standing naked on a storefront ledge in Brooklyn. Though......

A Shih Tzu named Zahara lost its life last September because a man was angry at his girlfriend and their relationship, and the authorities have finally caught up with him. WNBC reports that 27-year-old Sherman Haynes "threw his girlfriend's small dog out his third-floor window, killing the defenseless animal," yelling, "You need your dog?" to his girlfriend, 25-year-old Farah Benoit. The couple were at his East 93rd Street apartment in Brooklyn, where he also threw......

Disturbing details have emerged about the 22-year-old man who confessed to killing Pace University student Kevin Pravia. Among his disclosures, Jeromie Cancel said he watched the horror movie "Saw" after smothering a sleeping Pravia. Apparently Pravia met Cancel, who had offered to sell drugs to him, in Union Square early Saturday morning. They went back to Pravia's apartment on West 15th Street in Chelsea. Pravia's roommate discovered her friend's body on Sunday. When Cancel was......

The police are looking into a number of calls that Kevin Pravia made Saturday morning before his death. The Pace University student's body was found, with an electrical cord around his neck and plastic stuffed in his mouth, in his West 15th Street apartment by his roommate on Sunday. The Daily News says that Pravia was described as "very drunk" when leaving a party in lower Manhattan. Evan Santoro said, "Someone helped him to a......

Some details of 24-year-old Sayed Rahman's confession to the murder of Ingrid Rivera at Times Square karaoke club Spotlight Live have emerged. The victim's friend has spoken out about the events of the evening--she, too, was attacked by Rahman--though there seem to be conflicting reports about all of the details. The way the Daily News tells it, Rivera and Sasha Castillo had been invited to Lil' Kim's party by a member of the rapper's entourage,......

Looks like trouble is following Lil' Kim into her 33rd year, or at least the headlines are: A 24-year-old woman, Ingrid Rivera, was found dead last night in a rooftop utility closet of midtown club Spotlight Live, where she attended the rapper's birthday party on Sunday. It is believed she was "beaten with a blunt object — possibly a champagne bottle — and left for dead." The NY Post reports that Rivera, a JFK ticket......

Estelle Getty, born Estelle Scher on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1923, and perhaps best known for her role as Sophia on the Golden Girls, has died. Getty was 84 (she would have been 85 on the 25th) and living in Los Angeles; Bloomberg.com reports that "she had been ill for several years with what doctors eventually diagnosed as Lewy body dementia, a brain disorder that causes cognitive problems as well......

The ME's office says an autopsy for the NYC Triathlon competitor, who died during the swimming portion of the race, was inconclusive and more tests will be conducted this week. Esteban Neira, from Buenos Aires, was a father of three and a friend described him as an amateur athlete to the NY Times. The Times also notes some witnesses "questioned why it took 15 minutes for him to be pulled from the water and placed......

The NY Times reports that a 32-year-old man died during the NYC Triathlon. The man, an amateur competitor, was about three-quarters of the way done with the 0.93 mile swimming leg (which is before the 24.8 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile run) when he was pulled out of the Hudson River while unconscious. An autopsy will be conducted. The Times also mentioned that the heat and humidity--and stinging jellyfish--taxed the competitors.......

The 22-year-old man who was shot in Brooklyn last weekend, an incident that left a gruesome mess at the bus depot on Broadway and Roebling, has died. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the altercation leading to the shooting began at Williamsburg's Festa del Giglio, and witnesses say the scuffle resulted in Williamsburg resident Richard Duran getting shot in the face. "The gunmen — who onlookers suspect were gang members — sprinted off," however, the shooter......

Just in from the newswire, there's a "suspicious death" being reported at McCarren Park Pool, allegedly at the building that serves as an entrance. The person was found "DOA by event staff" earlier this morning. Last night Twelve Ophelias, a play centered around Hamlet's Ophelia coming back to life, was staged there; the night before there was a screening of The Virgin Suicides. All in all, a dark week for McCarren. Thus far, multiple calls......

Last Friday, Rev. Timothy Wright, the pastor of the Grace Tabernacle Christian Center in Crown Heights, was critically injured in a car crash in Pennsylvania that fatally injured his wife and 14-year-old grandson. As the pastor remains hospitalized at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, PA, NY1 is reporting that Wright's family has spoken out from their Long Island home. His five sons stated that their father knows of the death of his grandson, DJ, but......

Over the weekend, Natalie Ciappa's parents became worried when their daughter hadn't returned home. After calls to her friends, they found her unconscious in a converted garage-rec room in Seaford, Long Island. The 18-year-old who was days away from graduation was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Now, the party's host, a 19-year-old, was arrested for evidence tampering. The police say Seewong Sung was cleaning up beer and vodka bottles from the rec room. In......

The creator of Big Bird and Snuffleupagus, Kermit Love, died at the age of 91 this past Saturday from congestive heart failure; he was in Poughkeepsie, close to where he lived with his long-time partner Christopher Lyall. Though many rumored Kermit the Frog was named after him, the character was created long before Love began his career. While Love is best known for his work with Jim Henson, he also spun his costume design magic......

Last September the NY Aquarium's walrus Ayveq, along with Kulu, brought a new baby Walrus into the world. Sadly, the Brooklyn Paper reports that the nearly one-year-old walrus is now fatherless; at age 14 Ayveq has died (most likely of a bacterial infection)...but at least he left a legacy. Aquarium Director Jon Forrest Dohlin told the paper “We are all still in shock about it. He was an absolute delight. He had a magnetism and......

Reports say that NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and host of Meet the Press Tim Russert has died. It's believed he had a heart attack. A source told the NY Post he collapsed in the Washington Bureau. NBC News now confirms Russert's death and says he was recording voiceovers for Sunday's Meet the Press. The NY Times reports that at 3:39 p.m., retired anchor Tom Brokaw went on the air to announce Russert's death.“Our beloved......

The godmother of a 3-year-old boy and her boyfriend reportedly admitted to prosecutors that they beat the child, who died on Friday. However, Nymeem Cheatham and Lemar Martin, who are being held without bail, did not confess to killing Kyle Smith, who was found with cigarette burns, bruises all over his body, a torn tongue, a broken pelvis, and signs of sexual abuse. Back in 2007, when Cheatham petitioned for custody of Kyle (his mother......

The NY Post reports that one of their own, Denise Buffa, is suing Con Ed. Buffa, a Post reporter, told the heartbreaking tale of her dog being shocked last June; the 100-pound Italian mastiff died after his encounter with the electrified light pole in Marcus Garvey Park. Regarding the negligence suit against them, a Con Ed spokeswoman told The Post that they "weren't involved because the city owns the light poles," and the DoT declined......

Last summer was a rough one for some riders of the 81-year-old Coney Island Cyclone; the Post reports that at least seven people were injured throughout the season while riding the roller coaster. According to Astroland operator Carole Albert’s website, the ride “has the highest safety standards in the outdoor amusement industry,” and in order to maintain that perception, Albert’s been trying to quietly settle the ensuing lawsuits out of court. The injured riders......