CITYWIDE

NYPD TURNS ON SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS TO FIGHT CRIME AND TERROR

Along a gritty stretch of street in Brooklyn, police this month quietly launched an ambitious plan to combat street crime and terrorism. But instead of cops on the beat, wireless video cameras peer down from lampposts about 30 feet above the sidewalk. They were the first installment of a program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million. Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of Midtown with a surveillance “ring of steel” modeled after security measures in London’s financial district.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

MAN ARRESTED IN OFFICER’S DEATH TO UNDERGO PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION

A retired New York Police Department officer arrested in connection with the shooting death of a retired Port Authority police officer has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The attorney for Allen Lau, Richard Dienst, asked a judge for the evaluation on Saturday, when Mr. Lau made an appearance in a Staten Island courtroom for an arraignment. He did not enter a plea. Mr. Lau, 46, has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Authorities say officer Steven Vitale, 55, was shot numerous times on Richmond Hill Road on Staten Island just before 7 p.m. on April 10. Vitale’s funeral Mass is scheduled for this morning.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

ARMED MEN ROB HOME AFTER TYING UP WOMAN, DAUGHTER

BABYLON – Two armed men tied up a woman and her daughter before stealing valuables from a Suffolk County home early Saturday morning, police said. According to Suffolk County police, the 55-year-old woman was house-sitting at a residence on Water’s Edge Court in Babylon. She fell asleep at approximately 2 a.m. while watching television. When she woke up, she noticed the television wasn’t working. She checked on her sleeping 13-year-old daughter upstairs and found the television there wasn’t working, either. When she went back downstairs, she encountered the two men, police said. The men, who apparently entered the home by breaking into a side garage door, tied the woman and her daughter up. After threatening the victims at gunpoint, the men found some money and jewelry and fled the scene.

– Associated Press

MAN KILLED WHILE PERFORMING STUNT

A 23-year-old man, identified as Edwin Fernandez, was killed while performing a stunt in his car in Woodside, Queens, early yesterday morning. Fernandez was performing a “doughnut,” in which a car is driven at a high speed with the steering wheel pulled all the way to one side. Fernandez lost control during the stunt and smashed into a telephone pole.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

WOMAN ACCUSED OF SPLASHING PEOPLE WITH ACID AT WEDDING RECEPTION

SCHENECTADY – An Albany woman was accused of crashing a Sudanese wedding reception and splashing people with an acidic substance early yesterday morning. Six people were injured, including two firefighters whose latex gloves melted as they tried to treat the others. Police said they didn’t know the reason for the attack. Rihab Hagelkhider, 39, was charged with assault and reckless endangerment in the attack which also injured her.

– Associated Press

TRISTATE

ONE DEAD, FIVE HURT AFTER BEING TRAPPED IN FIRE

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A woman was killed and five others were injured Saturday when a fire broke out in the bottom of their two-story house, trapping them on the second story, authorities said. Yesterday, authorities were not releasing the woman’s identity. The fire, which authorities believe started either in the basement or first floor of the house at about 6:30 p.m., trapped some of the 14 people who lived on the second floor.

– Associated Press