New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MANHATTAN
WALL COLLAPSE DISRUPTS SUBWAY SERVICE
The rear wall of a vacant brownstone walk-up at Spanish Harlem collapsed yesterday, disrupting subway service along the Lexington Avenue line and Metro North, according to a Fire Department spokesman. A portion of the five-story building collapsed at 1:40 p.m., causing all trains running on the number 4, 5, and 6 lines to halt service for half an hour, according to the Fire Department. Subway and Metro North service continued in “slow down” mode for several hours following the incident.
A combination of factors led to the collapse, including the vibration of the trains running underneath the building, the recent demolition of the building next door, general disrepair, and ongoing construction nearby, according to the Fire Department. No one was injured.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
MINNELLI BODYGUARD SAYS SHE FORCED HIM TO HAVE SEX
Liza Minnelli’s bodyguard says in his $100 million lawsuit against the Oscar-winning actress that besides being hit repeatedly by her, he was forced to have sex with her to keep his job. That allegation by M’Hammed Soumayah, 56, is contained in court papers filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court in which he accuses Ms. Minnelli of assault and battery, breach of contract, withholding payment for services rendered, and sexual harassment. Mr. Soumayah’s lawsuit was filed September 30 and was sealed by Justice Barbara Kapnick. She unsealed it late Tuesday over the objections of Ms. Minnelli’s lawyers.
Meanwhile, Ms. Minnelli sued Mr. Soumayah for $250,000 on Tuesday, alleging breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The two-page filing contained no details. Ms. Minnelli’s lawyers did not return calls for comment yesterday. But in a court document, one of her lawyers, Dorothy Weber, said Mr. Soumayah had “commenced this action in a quicksand of untruths and misstatements” and accused him of a “shakedown” of her client.
– Associated Press
BROOKLYN
JUDGE ALLOWS SYRIAN-BORN DOCTOR TO REMAIN FREE
A federal judge ruled yesterday that a Syrian-born doctor can remain free on bail despite prosecutors’ allegations that he has ties to a suspected Al Qaeda associate and kept blueprints for a Washington, D.C., overpass at his Brooklyn home.
Prosecutors asked the judge last week to immediately jail Hassan Faraj because newly declassified information revealed his close ties to the Benevolence International Foundation, which they called a charity front for Al Qaeda. They said Mr. Faraj also tried to help the Al Qaeda associate enter America and had the shredded blueprints in a bag in his apartment.
Defense attorney Stanley Cohen said yesterday there was no proof of terrorism related activity by Mr. Faraj, who had been obeying the conditions of his bail since his June arrest on an immigration charge. Mr. Faraj’s acquaintance with suspected Al Qaeda associate Amir Abdulrazzak shows no criminal intent, and the blueprints of the Washington Beltway’s intersection with Connecticut Avenue belonged to civil engineers who had shared an office with Mr. Faraj’s brother, Mr. Cohen said. He called his client the victim of a government “witch hunt” aimed at pressuring Muslim and Arab Americans to become informants for prosecutors and the FBI.
– Associated Press
POLICE BLOTTER
POLICE RE-ARREST GIRL WHO PUNCHED OFFICER AND ESCAPED
A 15-year-old Brooklyn girl wanted for slugging a police sergeant with a pair of handcuffs and then escaping custody was arrested near her home Tuesday night, police said. The girl, whom police would not identify because she is a juvenile, was arrested at her Coney Island neighborhood by two police officers of the 60th Precinct who had been looking for her since the Monday morning assault.
According to a police source, she was arrested two blocks from her Surf Avenue home, which was the focus of the initial search for her. The assault and subsequent escape from custody happened in the Prospect Park South section of Brooklyn. A police source said the girl was charged with second-degree assault.
The girl was arrested Monday by detectives of the Kings County Juvenile Crimes Squad on a warrant for skipping a court date for a marijuana possession charge. The detectives and a police sergeant, who were carrying out a series of early-morning pickups of wanted juveniles, drove the girl in an unmarked van to a home where they intended to arrest a second juvenile. When the detectives went into that building, the girl managed to slip one hand out of her handcuffs, freeing her hands from behind her back. The girl looped the free cuff like a steel knuckle over her still-manacled fist and punched the sergeant in the side of the face, cutting her above the ear, according to a police source. The girl then escaped the van, prompting a police search.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
HOMELESS MAN FATALLY SHOOTS CONSTRUCTION WORKER
A homeless man gunned down a construction worker yesterday after he was asked to move his possessions from beneath the Grand Central Parkway at Queens. A law enforcement source said that after the shooting, the man smoked a cigar near where it happened. Steven Boyd, 44, is accused of fatally shooting James Carigilia, 38, of Midland Village, at about 11 a.m. at the Grand Central Overpass and Northern Boulevard at Elmhurst. Mr. Boyd was charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third degrees, according to a spokesman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Mr. Boyd lived beneath the overpass and for several days had interacted peaceably with a four-man crew from Persico Painting. When the crew could no longer work around Mr. Boyd and asked him to move his possessions, Mr. Boyd complied and moved his shopping cart. Then Mr. Boyd allegedly fired at Carigilia several times with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, killing him with a shot to the stomach. Mr. Boyd allegedly admitted the murder to responding police officers, who recovered the handgun along with 30 to 40 rounds, according to the source.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
TRANSIT OFFICER ARRESTS SLEEPING MURDER SUSPECT
A transit officer at the Bronx arrested a murder suspect whom he spotted sleeping on the seat of a subway car at the President Street/Flatbush Avenue station yesterday, police said. Jesse Kennedy, 41, was charged with murder and is accused of shooting two women on November 5 at a Morris Heights apartment. Mr. Kennedy allegedly shot the victims, aged 41 and 19, numerous times at 12:08 p.m. The older woman, who resided at the apartment, died from her wounds, but the teenager survived, police said. Transit Officer Thomas Moran, a seven-year officer of Transit District 32, spotted Mr. Kennedy at 2:26 a.m. while on patrol. According to police, Officer Moran recognized Mr. Kennedy from a wanted poster that had been distributed among officers at the beginning of his shift. Officer Moran held the train at the station and arrested Mr. Kennedy with the assistance of other officers.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun