$600K Settlement for NYPD Officer Who Made Quota Tapes

An NYPD officer who claimed he was handcuffed and hauled off to a psych ward after he blew the whistle on supervisors faking crime statistics to make the stats look better reached a $600,000 settlement with the city on Tuesday.

It was Halloween night in 2009 when Adrian Schoolcraft said his fellow officers burst into his Queens home, declared him an emotionally disturbed person and brought him to a psychiatric facility.

UPDATEDMom Threw Newborn Out 7th-Floor Window to Death: Police
The officer, who worked in Brooklyn, had made hundreds of hours of secret tapes while on duty that chronicled everything from roll calls to locker room chatter to bosses yelling at him. He also claimed supervisors forged crime statistics to make the stats look better than they were.

Among other things, Schoolcraft alleged that officers were being told to hand out more summonses and make more arrests while others were downgrading crimes on purpose to make their precinct's numbers appear better. Schoolcraft claimed that officers who didn't were told they would be transferred or given undesirable schedules.

In October 2009, officers from the department's emergency service unit went with a police chief to Schoolcraft's home in Queens and forced him into an ambulance, he alleged. Schoolcraft was suspended from the force after his involuntary hospital stay and went into self-exile in upstate New York as his lawyer filed a $50 million civil rights lawsuit against the city.

On Tuesday, he reached a settlement with New York City and several former superiors. The settlement, which awards him $600,000, also includes back pay and benefits beginning in December 2009. The case had been set to go to trial in October.

"We are pleased that we were able to reach a just and fair resolution of this dispute with Adrian Schoolcraft," Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city's Corporation Counsel, said Tuesday. Paolucci said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing, but was "in the best interest of the city."
The only officer who was not represented by the city in the case, Insp. Steven Mauriello, said in a statement through his union Tuesday that he was disappointed with the settlement.

"Inspector Mauriello is disappointed this case settled," his union president Roy Richter said. "Although he was fully indemnified by the City, the Inspector was anticipating a trial decision that would provide a truthful account in a court of law."
Schoolcraft's attorney, Nathaniel Smith, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

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'Swatting' plagues New Jersey

" It is called swatting... Fake calls that send police to an unsuspecting home... And it is a growing problem."

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Police across New Jersey have responded to dozens of phony 911 calls in recent months. The prank is known as "swatting" and investigators say it's often difficult to catch those responsible.

Robert Ianuale has been swatted multiple times. The first time was in April. He happened to be live streaming on his webcam when officers burst into his Keyport, New Jersey, apartment and the camera continued to roll. "Out of nowhere I hear in the back 'Police!' I'm just like what? I turn around and I see police officers coming through the door and three or four with automatic rifles and bullet proof vests," said Ianuale.

Ianuale said the officers told him they had received reports he shot his girlfriend and was holding hostages.

Swatting is officially defined as calling in a fake threat and triggering a deployment of a SWAT team and it has become an epidemic in New Jersey this year.

"I don't think there is a single county that hasn't been hit by swatting incidents," said Richard Frankel, the Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Bureau of the FBI. Swatting initially gained popularity among online gamers who would call police on an opponent in an act of revenge or as an attempt at distraction but Frankel says it's no longer exclusive to that community. "Everyone is making these calls now," Frankel said. The targets range from individuals like Ianuale, to schools, to mosques and even a Pizza Hut.

SAC Frankel estimated there have been around 80 incidents so far this year across New Jersey. Some towns like Freehold, Holmdel and Princeton have been hit especially hard. Local municipalities tell Fox 5 each swatting call can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars in resources. And then there's the issue of safety, explains Frankel.

"You'll have a SWAT team come in there thinking there is an active shooter based on what happened in the past-what's truly happened at schools, at institutions, at campuses," he said, adding "I'm surprised there hasn't been something of the equivalent of a friendly fire at this point." But despite the often massive law enforcement response when the calls come in, arrests are rare. It's not for lack of trying. The problem is technology is making it easier than ever to make web-based blocked calls. Easily accessible apps can spoof numbers to look like they're coming from a different caller.

"The technology exists where 911 is not just a phone call anymore," explains Mark Fletcher, an emergency number professional and the Chief Architect for Public Safety solutions at Avaya Telecommunications.


Fletcher explains many swatters don't actually call in their threats to 911 phone lines. Instead they call non-emergency lines via the web or send in their threats using internet text services designed for the hearing or speech impaired, tactics that make it easier to block the call's origins. Swatting has become so widespread the Federal Communications Commission stepped in and issued an order that would block non-verified 911 calls to IP relay services.

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Exclusive: City to pay $70K to settle suit alleging NYPD erased footage of beating

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city will pay $70,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging an NYPD officer let CCTV footage of a suspect's beating get erased before the suspect or his lawyer could review it.

Keashon Gillam, 22, alleged in a federal lawsuit that an NYPD "VIPER" camera recorded an Oct. 8, 2011 incident outside the Stapleton Houses where officers pummeled him badly enough to leave him with a concussion, medical staples and a scar on his head.

One of the officers who worked inside the housing complex's camera room rushed out to join the beating, the lawsuit alleged, then failed to flag the footage for archiving, meaning that, by NYPD policy, it would be erased after seven days, the lawsuit alleged.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge I. Leo Glasser dismissed the case, after Gillam and the city agreed to a settlement a month earlier.

"It was right in front of video cameras, and the video evidence was recorded over before we could get it, and we tried very hard," said Gillam's lawyer, Gregory Antollino. "We didn't even find out that it had been recorded over until years later. And so I think the policy with regard to those tapes needs to be looked at so that the truth can be preserved."

According to the NYPD patrol guide, recordings made by the city's Video-Interactive Patrol Enhanced Response, or VIPER cameras, are erased and destroyed every seven days, unless the recording is the subject of an incident report.

"I knew there was cameras out there, because basically I've been living out here all my life," Gillam said in an interview with the Advance Thursday. "For them to say that had no videotape, I knew that was BS.... Me and my mother went to get the tape so many times."

SUIT FILED IN 2012

Gillam filed his lawsuit in December 2012, while the criminal case against him was still pending.

According to the lawsuit, the officers had been chasing a "big fish" suspect, and when they couldn't catch him, "turned to a group of young black men standing near 218 Broad St."

Gillam, who was then 18, was standing outside with his cousin, tried to walk away from two officers, Christopher Parco and Timothy Lake, the lawsuit alleged. He had a small amount of marijuana on him, according to the lawsuit.

Moments earlier, Gillam told the Advance, he had watched a man who had been sitting on a bench run as soon as police showed up at the housing development.

The officers yelled, "Get the (expletive) up on the gate, get the (expletive) up on the gate!" Gillam recalled.

"Me and my cousin, we're going home, we're not doing nothing, so we didn't think they were talking to us," he said.

Parco grabbed him, "spun him to the ground" and bashed his head with a police radio, and Lake joined in, punching and kicking him, the lawsuit alleged.

NO 'INCIDENT REPORT'

Officer Daniel Magee was watching the scene unfold in the VIPER surveillance room at the Stapleton Houses and rushed out to join the two officers, the lawsuit alleged, beating Gillam after he was cuffed.

"Although it was procedure to do so, Magee should have prepared an incident report to flag the video of the incident, which was caught on camera. He purposely did not to protect Parco and his brethren from being charged with excessive force," the lawsuit alleged.

At one point, the lawsuit alleged, Lake cut his finger on a safety razor while searching Gillam's pocket, flicked blood into Gillam's face and referred to him as a "n----r."

Gillam suffered a concussion and needed medical staples in his head, the lawsuit alleged.

He was planning to start classes at ASA College in Manhattan the next day, he told the Advance, but after recovering from his injuries, he could only focus on classes for the first couple of months.

"It just took a toll on me, I just didn't want to keep going to school every day just thinking about that day," he said. Gillam said he now works as a security guard and plans to return to school.

ACQUITTED AT TRIAL

Gillam was ultimately acquitted of resisting arrest charges at a bench trial this past March, and was adjudicated as a youthful offender on a marijuana possession charge in April.

His cousin, who was also arrested, was only charged with marijuana possession, and received an adjournment contemplating dismissal.

The city's Civilian Complaint Review Board and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau investigated the incident, but did not substantiate any allegations against Lake or Parco, the lawsuit alleged. Magee was "retrained" over his handling of the VIPER video, according to the lawsuit.

The NYPD has not yet responded to a request made Wednesday seeking both comment on the case and general information about the department's policies regarding VIPER recordings.

"Settling the case was in the best interest of the city," said city Law Department spokesman Nick Paolucci.

Court records show the three named officers have been defendants in multiple lawsuits against the NYPD. One case involving both Lake and Magee is still pending, while the rest have ended with settlements.

Last September, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch criticized the city for settling so many cases against police officers, referring to them as "quick buck" lawsuits that "have a secondary impact of seriously injuring the reputation of good police officers who often are not given the opportunity to defend themselves."

TWICE THE AVERAGE PAYOUT

The city has spent $428 million between January 2009 and October 2014 to settle nearly 11,000 NYPD-related lawsuits, according to numbers provided by the Law Department to the website MuckRock.com.

Gillam received more than double the $33,000 average paid out in those cases.

"I think the city was fair. I think it was a fair settlement," Antollino said.

While he's grateful for the settlement money, Gillam said, "I'd rather see officers like that off the streets."

Antollino called for the NYPD to revise its policy on deleting VIPER recordings.

"Who knows what the tape would have shown? But we think that it would have shown exactly what we alleged, and I think that the city policies on these VIPER cameras have got to change," Antollino said. "As it is, they record over them every week, and only if they get flagged do they save them."

Lawyer Jason Leventhal, who regularly handles cases against the NYPD, including several unrelated lawsuits against the officers named in Gillam's suit, also called for better handling of VIPER footage.

"Videos provide the most compelling evidence to determine what happened during a police encounter.  The destruction of videos strikes at the heart of the integrity of our justice system," he said. "The NYPD should immediately institute policies requiring the prompt examination and preservation of potential video evidence to ensure that the truth prevails."

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Cops: Port Richmond teen allegedly stabs 65-year-old woman

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.—A Port Richmond teen allegedly stabbed a 65-year-old woman multiple times during a purse-snatching incident Tuesday.

The victim was standing at a bus stop on Post Avenue and looking down at her phone when the 14-year-old male, whose name is being withheld because he's a juvenile,  came up from behind and stabbed her three times in the back at approximately 10 p.m., according to allegations in court documents.

The woman was taken to Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton, police said.

The teen was caught by good Samaritans, according to a law enforcement source.

Police then recovered the gravity knife and pocketbook.


The defendant was arrested a half hour later on Post Avenue and charged with robbery in the first degree, a felony, robbery in the second degree, three accounts of assault, grand larceny in the fourth degree, criminal possession of property in the fifth degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, according to a spokesman for Acting District Attorney Daniel Master.

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MAJOR K2 BUST IN THE BRONX UNCOVERS $10M IN DRUGS

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A major synthetic marijuana or K2 bust was made in the Bronx Wednesday evening.

Some two million packets were found with a value of approximately $10 million.

It happened on Poplar Street in the Bronx.

It was part of an undercover operation that was a continuation of a K2 bust from last week.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security were also involved in the investigation with the NYPD.

There have been no official arrests at this time.

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Taco Bell in Chicago debuts with beer and sangria

CHICAGO (AP) — Taco Bell customers in Chicago can now have beer with their burritos and sangria with their soft tacos.

The chain opened a location that serves wine, beer, sangria and frozen mixed drinks in Chicago on Wednesday. It's a first in the U.S. for Taco Bell, which is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc.

A similar location will open in San Francisco later this month.

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Christie tells National Guard leader to slim down

TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie wants the leader of New Jersey's National Guard to shape up.

The governor has given Air Force Brig. Gen. Michael Cunniff 90 days to slim down and meet his obligations.

The action comes after Christie's staff told The Washington Post the governor was unaware the general had been reprimanded by the Pentagon about his weight and repeatedly dodging physical-fitness tests.

In an emailed statement, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts told The Post the governor found the general's actions "unacceptable and disappointing."

Cunniff declined an interview request. But the National Guard released a statement in which the general acknowledged he failed to meet the fitness requirements and is "taking the necessary steps to remedy this issue."

Christie underwent stomach banding surgery in 2013.

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Cops: Man shot and injured by 4 suspects in Mariners Harbor

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --  A 35-year-old man was shot and injured early on Tuesday morning in Mariners Harbor and police are seeking four suspects in the attack.

The man is likely to recover after being shot twice, in the back and hip, for unknown reasons at Brabant Street and Grandview Avenue near the Mariners Harbor Houses at 12:12 a.m. on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Police are seeking four male suspects of unknown description. Cops also are unable to provide a motive for the shooting.

The man was treated at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton.

Police radio transmissions indicated that a level-one mobilization was called as cops canvassed the neighborhood during the early morning hours.

This incident occurred just down the block from where a man was shot in the buttocks last week.

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Verizon could be sued by NYC over reportedly broken FiOS promises

A number of New York City officials said they are considering suing Verizon (NYSE: VZ) for not meeting their proposed FiOS buildout obligations set in their 2008 franchise agreement.

"We want them to make it available to everyone in every ZIP code and on every block so that everyone can get online, to do research, to do their homework," said Maya Wiley, the chief lawyer for Mayor de Blasio, in a New York Times article. "We need our residents to get online."

Wiley said that her staff was working with Verizon and would like avoid a lawsuit, adding that "if that's what we have to do, then that's what we'll do."

John Bonomo, a Verizon spokesman told FierceTelecom in an e-mail that it wants to resolve the issues it has with the city in order to extend FiOS to more users.

"We want to work with the city administration on a workable solution to this and other impediments so that all New Yorkers can benefit from FIOS," Bonomo said. "In completing this massive infrastructure achievement, the company has both provided New Yorkers hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers with a choice for better TV, and a better value over the incumbent cable TV monopoly companies, and it has provided the City with a resilient, reliable telecommunications infrastructure that is the envy of cities the world over."

Verizon and the city have not been on the greatest of terms lately.

In June, an audit conducted by the New York City's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications found that Verizon failed to deliver on its promise to provide fiber-optic service for television and broadband to anyone who wants it by 2014.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Verizon was quick to dismiss the audit, saying it was based upon erroneous information and incorrect interpretations of the company's franchise deal that was signed with the city in 2008, which allowed it to deploy FiOS throughout the city.

Following the audit, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio began requiring city hall to approve any business local agencies do with the service provider, a measure focused on getting it to fulfill its goal to wire the city with FiOS fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) service.

Under the terms of the agreement, Verizon agreed to pass all 3 million homes in New York City by the end of 2014, an obligation that the telco said it has met.

"By installing fiber-optic cables throughout the five boroughs -- an initiative no other communications company has done -- Verizon has met its commitment to New York City under the cable television franchise it was awarded in 2008," Bonomo said. 

According to city officials, FiOS is not available in large parts of the city, including the Co-op City complex in the Bronx, which comprises more than 15,000 apartments and whose residents say they want FiOS. 

Bonomo said that "Co-Op City has an exclusive agreement with Cablevision, which could make it unprofitable for us to market FiOS there."

Verizon has long argued that one of the issues it has run into in building out FTTH service to more areas of the city are landlords that restrict access to their facilities.

Kevin Service, senior vice president for network operations for Verizon, told theNew York Times as a way to illustrate the point of the challenges it faces with properties owners if it wants to wire 118th Street in East Harlem it will have to work with multiple property owners.

"To get to the 10th floor in the middle of the block," he said, "we've got to talk to not only that building, but the three buildings on one side and the four buildings on the other side."

For more:

- New York Times has this article

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Dominican Republic babies are born apparently female and only grow male sex organs at puberty

The village where boys are born as girls: Genetic deformity means Dominican Republic babies are born apparently female and only grow male sex organs at puberty

• Around one in 90 babies born in Salinas have the remarkable condition.
• Due to lack of dihydro-testosterone in womb because of missing enzyme.
• Transition is so common children are called Guevedoces, or 'penis at 12'.
• Many children keep their female names but say they never felt like girls.
  
  
  Babies born apparently female in a tiny village in the Dominican Republic are turning into men at puberty due to a genetic deformity.
  Around two per cent - or one in 90 - babies from Salinas are thought to be born with the condition, which occurs due to a missing enzyme during pregnancy.
  The transition is so common the children are referred to as Guevedoces, or 'penis at 12 years'.
  
  
  Johnny is one of the babies affected and was initially brought up as a girl named Felicity by his parents. 
  The 24-year-old said doctors didn't originally know what sex he was but he always felt more like a boy, according to the BBC.
  He said: 'I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl. 
  'When they bought me girls' toys I never bothered playing with them - when I saw a group of boys I would stop to play ball with them.
  
  
  Another boy, named Carla, said he is also going through the same transition aged nine after appearing to be born a girl.
  Pictures show Carla, who will change his name to Carlos, wearing a pink patterned top with his hair in bunches as he smiles alongside his cousin Catherine.
  The condition was first discovered in the 1970s after a scientist from Cornell visited the island. 
  Babies usually form male sex organs after around eight weeks in the womb, with the change triggered by hormone dihydro-testosterone. 

Around two per cent - or one in 90 - babies from Salinas, marked above on the map, are thought to be born with the condition, which occurs due to a missing enzyme during pregnancy

But a handful of babies do not have the enzyme that triggers the hormone surge and consequently appear to be born female. 

They will not form male genitalia until they reach puberty, when there is another surge of testosterone.

Some experts have suggested there is such a high concentration of children affected in Salinas due to the village's isolation.  

The extraordinary condition will be explored by Dr Michael Mosley on BBC Two's Countdown to Life - The Extraordinary Making of You tomorrow night.

According to the BBC's website, the programme 'explores how this remarkable human diversity is so crucial to our species, but [also shows] that these complex processes can occasionally go wrong'.  

Countdown to Life - The Extraordinary Making Of You is on tomorrow at 9pm on BBC Two  

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Schumer Urges DEA to Target Online K2 Sales

Sen. Charles Schumer is urging the Drug Enforcement Administration to create a special investigative unit to target online sales of synthetic marijuana.

The New York Democrat said that despite state bans on fake pot, dealers are able to sell it online to users as well as retailers. A special unit within the DEA could investigate these dealers and notify credit card companies to stop transactions involved in purchasing the drugs, he said.

Federal statistics show some 2,300 emergency room visits in a two-month period were related to synthetic marijuana use, and that poison control center calls about the drug are surging around the nation, Schumer said.

Synthetic marijuana, commonly referred to as K2, is designed to mimic actual marijuana but can have very different effects on the brain and body.

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BREAKING NEWS: 3 people hurt in Alabama church shooting; suspect arrested

EAST SELMA, Alabama — An Alabama prosecutor says a suspect has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting a woman, an infant and a pastor inside a church in Alabama.

Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson says James Minter was arrested after the shooting Sunday at the Oasis Church in East Selma, Alabama. Neither Minter’s age or hometown were immediately available.

Jackson says the shooting stems from a domestic issue between Minter and the woman and that race was not a factor.

Jackson says the pastor is white, while Minter and the two other victims are black. Jackson says Minter is being held without bond at the Dallas County jail.

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Boat capsizes in the East River near Queens; 19 rescued

QUEENS -- Multiple people were rescued after a boat capsized in the East River Sunday afternoon.

The Dragon Boat racing team was on board for their last practice of the season.

They started at the World's Fair Marina and were heading to the Whitestone Bridge when the boat capsized around 1:30 p.m. near College Point Yacht Club in Queens.

Nineteen people were tossed into the water.

"Our boat capsized because the wakes were too big," Franklin Chiu said.

The team of 19 clung to the boat until rescuers arrived. Each member of the team was equipped with a life jacket. They were pulled to safety by first responders and taken to College Point Yacht Club.

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Autistic 17-year-old mishandled by Metro Transit police, family says

The family of a 17-year-old who has autism says police officers who forcefully arrested him, rendering him unconscious, should have recognized he was disabled when they talked with him. They are calling for better training.

Two Metro Transit police officers wrote in reports that the St. Paul teen, identified by his family as Marcus Abrams, resisted arrest and tried to strike an officer. They took him down to the ground and, when he was kicking at and trying to punch officers, put him in a neck restraint, the reports said.

Abrams had two seizures when police used force against him at the Green Line's Lexington Parkway Station, his lip was split, and he has cuts on his face and head, said Maria Caldwell, his mother.

A Metro Transit police sergeant wrote in his report that the officers' use of force complies with department policies. Police are reviewing the case "to ensure all of our standard policies and procedures were followed," said Metro Transit spokesman Howie Padilla.

Abrams has Asperger's syndrome, which is considered on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, his mother said. He also has seizures, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disabilities, Caldwell said. Because he has touch-sensory problems, he doesn't like people to touch him or be in his personal space, she said.

"He has the mind of a 12 year old ... even though he doesn't look like that," said Caldwell of her son, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and slender.

Caldwell said it should have been obvious to officers when they talked to Abrams that something is different about him. He is also legally blind, Caldwell said, and wears glasses that are obviously very magnified. The glasses were knocked off and damaged during the struggle with police.

"If they had training with dealing with an autistic child or someone like an Alzheimer's patient ... it would seem they would have known how to handle him better than they did," Caldwell said Wednesday.

Speaking generally, Padilla said officers continue to undergo training in working with individuals who have "emotional-behavioral issues" and in crisis intervention.

The incident happened about 7 p.m. Monday. Abrams and friends who were with him are apprentices with Urban Boatbuilders, a youth organization, and they had been demonstrating their work at the Minnesota State Fair. They were heading home from there, waiting for a train, when Abrams jumped onto the tracks. The teen said Wednesday he was "mostly playing around, like play fighting."

Abrams was on the tracks for about 10 seconds, said his 15-year-old friend, who was helping Abrams get home; Abrams usually has someone to help him wherever he goes, his mother said. Abrams had just returned to the platform when officers approached.

Metro Transit reports released Wednesday give the following accounts from officers Richard Wegner and Peter Buzicky:

The officers were driving by when they saw a male on the tracks, leading Wegner to shout "Hey!" out the window. The male ignored him. As Wegner started to get out of the squad, the male jumped back on the platform and they followed.

Wegner and Buzicky asked for Abrams' identification, but he said he had done nothing wrong and did not need to identify himself. Wegner told him it was illegal to be on the tracks.

"He responded loudly, 'I'm 17!' " Wegner wrote. Abrams "again made no movements to retrieve any ID" and Wegner told him to put his hands behind his back, but he would not, the officer wrote. Buzicky grabbed Abrams' other wrist and tried to pull it behind his back.

Abrams started backing up and Wegner grabbed his vest. Abrams put up a hand to him and the officer grabbed it to prevent him from striking him.

"He continued to refuse to comply," Wegner wrote. "In fact he was able to cock his left hand by his left ear while looking right at me telling me not to touch him."

Wegner told Abrams he was under arrest, but said the teen continued resisting. The officer used a "leg sweep takedown" because he "felt that it would be easier for us to control him on the ground," he wrote. Abrams was on his back and Wegner landed on top of him.

Buzicky was trying to hold Abrams down, but he "continuously was kicking me and hitting me with his hand," the officer wrote, and Wegner said Abrams tried to punch him. Wegner used his arm to encircle Abrams' neck and put him into a "neck restraint," saying he added compression when Abrams kept kicking and trying to hit the officers.

They got one handcuff on Abrams when he began kicking again. Wegner then used his knee to pin Abrams' head down to the ground to control his upper body.

The officers got the second handcuff on Abrams and Wegner wrote he "released the suspect completely." Wegner said Abrams seemed semiconscious; Buzicky described him as unconscious in his report.

Police said they called for paramedics, who took Abrams to Regions Hospital.

Abrams was released early Tuesday morning and said Wednesday that his upper body, jaw and head remain sore.

Caldwell told police at the hospital about Abrams' disabilities and that "was one of the determining factors" for officers to release him to his mother and not take him to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center, Padilla said. Police don't plan to present the case to prosecutors to consider charges against the teen, he said.

Abrams' family is working with attorney Paul Applebaum and he met with the teen Wednesday.

"I think it's clear that he's got disabilities and, in my estimation, they would be apparent to an officer who was dealing with him," Applebaum said.

He is investigating what happened to determine their next steps.

Abrams' autism makes it difficult for him to tell people his feelings or to interpret the intentions of others, Caldwell said.

"He's not out to harm anybody," she said. "He's just like any teen, trying to find their place in the world, but needing just a little special help."

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.

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Prince George's County students claim school lunches are undercooked, contain mold

FORT WASHINGTON, Md. - Students attending Prince George’s County Public Schools are complaining about some disgusting discoveries in the school cafeteria. Complaints about moldy and undercooked food were issued to the school district through Twitter directly from these students who say they have not heard a response from the school system.

But the outrage on social media was more than evident from these students who say someone will end up getting sick from these school lunches.

"Criminals are getting better food than we are,” said Tamera Perry, a senior student at Friendly High School in Fort Washington.

It’s not prison food, but these students allege their school lunches are not up to par.

“You're giving us something that's not healthy, that can possibly cause us to die and it's just unacceptable,” the high school student told us.

A school lunch menu for Friday, Sept. 11 at Friendly included “Rojo Fiesta Pizza." But Perry said, “What was in it was nowhere near salsa. That wasn't pizza at all. It was just disgusting."

Some students may not share the taste in ingredients or choices made by Prince George’s County Public Schools. But they said burger buns with mold and undercooked meat are nothing new to their lunch trays.

"I've gotten lunch where my mandarin orange has mold on it,” said Perry. “There have been incidents where the lunch lady had to collect our fruit cup because they were expired. Our milk has been expired. Open up apple juice cartons and it's been green. It's just disgusting."

One picture showed hollowed out chicken nuggets. For these students, their lunches come at a price too high for many.

"They raised our lunches to $3,” said Perry. “We're paying $3 for something that’s not edible, not organic and it's not healthy ... For some of the population of students, that's their only lunch, so you're putting them in a sticky situation where they can either continue to starve or they eat it because that's the only thing they have to eat."

FOX 5 reached out to Prince George’s County Public Schools on Monday. The school district was observing a holiday and there were no classes and their offices were closed.

But a school spokesperson wrote in a statement, "PGCPS cannot confirm the origin of the photo circulating on social media, but encourages anyone who has concerns regarding meals to call 301-952-6580. Providing healthy and nutritious meals for all students is a contributing factor to high academic achievement and the district prides itself on doing so for over 129,000 students each day.”

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5 Students Charged With Killing Classmate Could Face Death

Five Florida students have been charged with first-degree murder in the machete slaying of a fellow vocational school student and could face the death penalty.

The Miami Herald reports that a grand jury indicted the five suspects Wednesday.

Police say that in June, the Homestead Job Corps students lured 17-year-old Jose Amaya Guardado into a wooded area near the school, where he was hacked to death with the machete and buried in a shallow grave. The victim's brother found his body several days later.

An arrest report contends the suspects planned the attack two weeks in advance.

The murder has brought scrutiny to the Homestead Job Corps, a live-in school and vocational training program for at-risk students run by the U.S. Department of Labor. Fall classes were suspended at the school.

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10 Indicted, 80 Locations Raided in Biggest Synthetic Pot Crackdown in New York City History: Officials

Federal agents and New York City authorities raided about 80 locations throughout the city Wednesday and arrested six people in what officials are calling the largest crackdown on the importation, distribution and sale of synthetic cannabinoids, commonly known as synthetic marijuana, in New York City history, law enforcement officials said.

A total of 10 people were named in a federal indictment on charges of participating in a scheme to illegally import at least 100 kilograms of illegal synthetic compounds into the U.S., enough to produce 260,000 retail packets, officials said. The seizure had a street value of about $30 million.

Of the 10 suspects, four are still being sought, officials say.

Several of the defendants are accused of importing illegal synthetic compounds in powdered form from China using commercial delivery services and transporting them to a processing facility in the Bronx where other defendants mixed the compounds with chemical solvents and then sprayed the mixture onto tea leaves, the indictment says.

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Co-conspirators then bundled the dried tea leaves into retail packets, labeled them and transported them to warehouses controlled by wholesale distributors, the indictment alleges.

Officials say the retail packets, which contained about 3 to 6 grams of synthetic marijuana, were sold to individual customers for $5 per packet. Packets were sold under names such as “AK-47, “Blue Caution,” “Green Giant,” “Geeked Up,” “Psycho” and other brands.

The investigation and raids were conducted by the DEA, the NYPD, Homeland Security Investigations and the NYC Sheriff’s office.

Those arrested Tuesday appeared in federal court in Manhattan later Wednesday. All are charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors asked for a high bail amount for the defendants because of the money involved in the operation -- $30 million worth of products have been seized so far.

Two of the defendants were released on $200,000 bond; three others were released on $500,000 bond. One other suspect, Murad Kassim, remains detained on $1 million bond because he was a flight risk, the judge said. Kassim is also believed to have access to to a significant portion of the money in the scheme.

All defendants have been ordered to surrender travel documents and were given travel restrictions within the southern and eastern districts of New York. 

Officials say synthetic marijuana is popular among teenagers and young adults because it is inexpensive and sold at legitimate retail locations.

The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy has reported the effects of synthetic marijuana use include anxiety, nausea, vomiting, rapid heart rate, tremors, seizures and suicidal thoughts.

Authorities said potency can vary from batch to batch so no one knows the precise effects. Synthetic marijuana is not detected by drug tests, so some users see it as a way to use without the risk of testing positive, according to officials.

“Despite sometimes being calls synthetic marijuana, this stuff is not marijuana. It can cause unpredictably severe and even lethal effects," Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news briefing. "It is not natural and it is not harmless in any sense of the word. In fact, some experts believe that spice can be up to 100 times more potent than pot.”

“What is being sold every day in bodegas and convenience stores throughout the city to teenagers, to homeless people, to addicts is literally poison," Bharara added. "Toxic chemicals that bind to receptors in the central nervous system to frightening and sometimes even deadline effect.”

At the news briefing, officials said phone calls to U.S. poison centers for synthetic marijuana in the first four months of this year increased 225 percent compared with the same time period last year. In New York state, use of synthetic pot resulted in 2,300 emergency room visits in a one-month period this year, a ten-fold increase compared with the same time period last year. 

"This is a scourge on our society, affecting the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and our most challenged citizens. It affects teenagers in public housing, homeless in the city shelter system, and it’s quite literally flooding our streets," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement. "This is marketed as synthetic marijuana, some call it K2. It is sold by the names of Galaxy, Diamond, Rush, and Matrix. But its real name is poison.”

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BREAKING: Carey Gabay, an aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, has died after suffering a gunshot wound to the head during a pre-West Indian Day Parade shooting.

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — Carey Gabay, an aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, has died after suffering a gunshot wound to the head during a pre-West Indian Day Parade shooting.

Gabay, 43, was shot during the J'ouvert Festival on September 7. He was walking with his brother near the parade route just before 4 a.m., when shots rang out. He was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he remained for nine days before succumbing to his injuries.

Wednesday afternoon his family announced that Gabay was brain dead.
Gabay was a first deputy general counselor to Governor Cuomo. Cuomo called the Harvard-educated lawyer an "outstanding public servant." Gabay joined Cuomo's administration in 2011.

No arrests have been made at this time. Days after the shooting, police released a sketch of one of the suspects.

Police are looking for this man in connection to a shooting that fatally wounded an aide to Governor Cuomo. (DCPI)

The suspects are believed to be between 19 and 20. One of the suspects was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and had a Jamaican flag around his neck.

Police later released a video of the two suspects.

A $12,500 reward for information about the attack has been posted by police.
The shooting was one of several violent incidents surrounding the parade. A 24-year-old man was fatally stabbed that same day, not far from the parade route.
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7 Kids Not Named Mohamed Who Brought Homemade Clocks to School And Didn't Get Arrested

Hoping to impress the teachers at his new school, an Irving, Texas, high school freshman named Ahmed Mohamed brought a homemade clock with him to MacArthur High Monday morning, which he’d assembled before bed the night before. When he showed it to those teachers, though, they were something other than impressed, and by Monday afternoon, Mohamed was being led out of school in handcuffs. Ahmed’s English teacher believed the device was a bomb.

A Muslim teenager who built a clock for a class project won a prize he really didn’t want: a…

Why? Could it have something to do with Ahmed Mohamed’s name, or the color of his skin? His father thinks so. “He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed told the Dallas Morning News. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated.”

Mohamed’s father might be right. Below are seven students, not named Mohamed, who got off scot-free for the heinous crime of DIY timekeeping, plus a bonus kid who brought an actual inert bomb to school and wasn’t suspended. (Mohamed got three days.)

Peter Mathis of Wilmington, North Carolina

Another student who likes clocks made a clock of his own. Peter Mattis of Gregory elementary wanted to make a clock more complex than a sundial, so he made his own liquid clock.

The clock drips green fluid into a container to mark the hour. And while Peter doesn’t use the clock to tell time at home because it tells time by hours instead of minutes, he can think of one situation where the clock would come in handy: a hurricane.

—Wilmington Morning Star, March 10, 1999

Haley Zinke and Tasha Williams of Turtle Lake, North Dakota

Haley Zinke and Tasha Williams researched whether or not water clocks kept accurate time. They built their own clock for the project and demonstration.

—McLean County Journal, May 22, 2014

Logan Weimer of Holland, Ohio

During the Holloway Elementary School science fair last week, kids crowded around Logan’s exhibit as he explained how he used veggie power to keep track of time.

“I tried to get an alarm clock to come on with no batteries,” Logan explained, pointing to copper wires and chunks of potato and lemons. Citric acid in the lemon kept the clock working for hours, but the potato “spuddered” out rather quickly.

However, he said he was really happy with his experiment because “if the power goes out, I will get to school on time.”

—Toledo Blade, March 22, 2007

Indy Brumbraugh and Cesar Limas of Dade City, Florida

Indy Brumbraugh and Cesar Limas also worked together on their “Clock-o-matic,” an alarm clock that squirts water on those not-so-early risers.

“I wake up late and my mom and dad wake up late, so I was thinking of an idea to wake them up early,” Cesar said.

—St. Petersburg Times, December 15, 1999

Tori Clark of Ellis, Kansas

“I didn’t know anything about building,” said senior Tori Clark, the only girl in the class of 14. “I built a clock in (Carroll’s) industrial tech class last year, and he’s a good teacher so I decided to try this.”

It was a good decision, Clark said.

“My dad said he wishes he would have had something like this when he was in school,” she said.

—Hays Daily News, December 5, 2010

Plus, here’s an anonymous kid in Kiowa, Colorado who brought an actual inert bomb and wasn’t suspended (his teacher was)

A high school student’s science project was meant to demonstrate how heat is involved in transferring energy. But because the project was an inert bomb, the student and his teacher are taking some heat of their own.

The bomb, made with fertilizer and diesel in a test tube, was displayed last week at a science fair with traditional experiments when an anonymous caller alerted the authorities. The bomb was made with the approval of the 17-year-old student’s teacher.

...

The student, whose name officials refused to release, remains in school and will not be disciplined by the school, because he had his teacher’s approval for the project.

—New York Times, January 18, 2002

If you or your child ever brought a homemade clock to school and somehow escaped arrest, feel free to share your story below.

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Blizzard warnings, travel bans, closures storm the East Coast

Travel bans, flight cancellations, power outages and school closures are being issued throughout the northeast coast. Here's a look at what's going on in each state:

NEW YORK

• Blizzard warning and coastal flood watch issued by the National Weather Service.
• No cars on the streets, outside of emergency vehicles, after 11 p.m. Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. Violation of this will count as a misdemeanor calling for a $300 fine, he said.
• Public transportation and commuter transportation out of Port Authority Bus Terminal shuts down at 11 p.m., Cuomo said.
• Free cab rides: Greater New York Taxi Association offered free cab service in NYC for emergency responders trying to get to work, and disabled and elderly residents who become stranded.
• Cuomo urged commuters to stay home Monday and warned that mass transit and roadways could be closed before the evening rush hour, even major highways such as the New York Thruway, Interstate 84 and the Long Island Expressway.
• All flights in and out of LaGuardia Airport on Tuesday are cancelled, Cuomo said. Flights in and out of John F. Kennedy Airport will be minimal, the governor said.
• Knicks vs. Kings: Monday night's New York Knicks game against the Sacramento Kings at Madison Square Garden is rescheduled for March 3.
• Nets vs. Trail Blazers: Brooklyn Nets' game against the Portland Trail Blazers at the Barclays Center is rescheduled for April 6.
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