2 NOVEMBER 10 - NOVEMBER 16, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
BROOKLYN COPS ACCUSED
OF RAPING TEEN RESIGN
The two police officers accused of raping a teenager
in a police van in southern Brooklyn last month
have left their jobs at the NYPD.
Police officers Eddie Martins and Richard Hall,
formerly assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics
Division, appeared on their own at Police Headquarters
Monday, November 6 and resigned.
The duo – charged in a 50-count indictment that
includes first-degree rape, first-degree criminal
sexual act and second-degree kidnapping, among
other charges – were originally scheduled for a
department trial on Thursday, November 9.
According to the indictment, Martins and Hall
are said to have taken turns raping an 18-year-old
girl in the back of their van after handcuffing her
and placing her under arrest for drug possession.
If convicted, they each face up to 25 years in prison.
BROOKLYN POL LOOKS TO
MAKE ROAD RAGE A CRIME
A Brooklyn pol is looking to tackle road rage
head-on.
Councilmember David Greenfield – whose district
encompasses Midwood, Borough Park and
Bensonhurst – introduced a bill earlier this month
that would designate road rage as its own crime for
the first time in the city’s history.
The bill – Intro. 1752 – would make it a Class B
misdemeanor to engage in threatening or violent
behavior towards the operator or occupants of a
vehicle. These misdemeanors would be punishable
by up to three months in prison or a $500 fine.
California is currently the only state in the country
with a law against road rage.
POLS CALL FOR BETTER
PROTECTION OF CONEY
BOARDWALK
Two southern Brooklyn pols have renewed their
call for the implementation of pedestrian safety
upgrades for the storied Coney Island Riegelmann
Boardwalk.
The push – being led by Councilmembers Mark
Treyger and Chaim Deutsch – comes in the wake
of the recent terrorist attack in lower Manhattan
on October 31 in which eight people lost their
lives after a vehicle was used as a weapon against
pedestrians and cyclists. In letters addressed to
Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James
O’Neill and Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver,
the duo has asked the city to install retractable
fortified bollards at appropriate entry points to the
Boardwalk, restricting access to city or authorized
vehicles only.
The Boardwalk — first opened in 1923 — attracts
masses well beyond the summer season.
—Meaghan McGoldrick
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by @NYC911News
The scene after a car reportedly drove off the 69th Street Pier on Monday,
November 6.
Still no sign of vehicle or
driver after car reportedly
plunges off 69th Street Pier
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@
BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Authorities still have not
recovered the vehicle
that witnesses claim
plunged into the harbor off of
the 69th Street Veterans Memorial
Pier in Bay Ridge in the
early morning hours of Monday,
November 6. They also have not
found its driver.
Onlookers reported seeing a
black sedan, potentially a BMW,
crash into the water off of the
pier at around 1 a.m. Monday
morning after blazing through
a maze of tables and past the
pier's famed 9/11 monument.
The vehicle was reportedly
able to access the pier – which
is open only to pedestrians and
cyclists – thanks to a missing
bollard (or, protective barrier)
that, locals claim, was knocked
down last year and never repaired
or replaced.
“While a determined driver
could enter the pier (trash
trucks and police vehicles
often do) the missing barrier
provided a virtual invitation to
drive onto the pier,” wrote one
concerned reader in an e-mail
to this paper shortly after the
incident occurred. “I was constantly
amazed that it was never
replaced and wondered if there
would eventually be an incident
with an unauthorized vehicle.
Now this.”
The incident – which authorities
still know very little
about – occurred less than a
week after the deadliest terror
attack in New York City since
9/11 in which a motorist mowed
down at least a dozen pedestrians
and cyclists (killing eight)
along the West Street bike path
on October 31.
Weeks before the terror attack,
safe-streets groups across
the city had begun to meet with
the NYPD in hopes of upping
car-stopping safety equipment
highly populated areas – like
the Pier – across the five boroughs.
Almost immediately
after the attack, the city and
state began installing barriers
at 57 access points to that bike
path between the Battery and
59th Street.
“I suppose we should be grateful
that the driver didn’t opt to
do it in the middle of the day
when the pier was crowded with
people,” the reader continued.
According to Community
Board 10 District Manager Josephine
Beckmann, both the bollard
and the protective fencing
around the pier were replaced
as of Tuesday, a little more than
24 hours after the car reportedly
went off the pier. Beckmann also
noted that, despite the fact that
some bollards are meant to be removable
to allow for emergency
vehicles to access the pier and/or
surrounding construction, she
was surprised that the barrier
had been down for so long.
"I'm happy to hear that it's
been replaced," she said, adding
that, in terms of the Monday incident,
the currents at the 69th
Street Pier are notably strong.
"I'm very surprised to hear that
nothing has been located."
Meanwhile, the lack of recovery
results have also perplexed
local law enforcement, with a
police source going as far as to
call it “very mysterious.”