MARIJUANA possession was the top offense among those arrested after police stopped and questioned them last year, the New York Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday. Of 532,911 stops last year, 89% did not result in an arrest or summons. But of those who were arrested, 5,307, or 16%, were charged with pot possession, the NYCLU analysis found. Too often, the group said, police trick men into taking the drug out of a pocket because if it's in plain view, they can be charged with a misdemeanor. [continues 117 words]
An NYPD tow truck operator who accused a vengeful Bronx cop of giving him a parking ticket says he was ordered to take a drug test after the Daily News started asking questions. Marvin Robbins, a tow truck drivers' union official, got a ticket Sunday for parking his Lexus by a fire hydrant outside his apartment in the Melrose Houses. He says the ticket was written by Officer David Moshier, whom he had met two days earlier at a restaurant on E. 149th St. in the Bronx. [continues 132 words]
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly ordered a high-level shake-up in Brooklyn South Narcotics after four cops were arrested in two embarrassing incidents, but police sources said there has been dissatisfaction with the unit as far back as 2003. That's when 24 detectives and six sergeants were demoted to patrol duty after Internal Affairs investigators uncovered an overtime scam in which the cops were caught putting in for hours they didn't work. E-ZPass records showed the accused passing through toll booths when they were supposed to be working, police officials said. [continues 333 words]
Narcotics cops investigating a drug crew in the Bronx made a startling discovery -- a gun disguised as a flashlight, law enforcement sources said. The recent find is the latest example of homemade weapons popping up on city streets, Newsday has learned. Several police sources noted that the attention law enforcement pays to removing illegal guns from the streets, has forced criminals to improvise and find ways to conceal weapons. The disguised weapons, sources said, allow criminals, particularly drug dealers, to stay armed without raising much suspicion. [continues 360 words]
Two men whose overdose deaths helped lead to a city health alert were killed by a powerful mix of narcotics and prescription medicine - not tainted drugs, the city medical examiner said yesterday. Kristopher Korkowski, 24, a hairdresser, was the first of six people to die in what authorities earlier this month feared was super potent or poisoned heroin. The medical examiner said Korkowski, found Aug. 10 on the couch of his East Village apartment, overdosed on cocaine and Oxycodone, a pain killer. [continues 177 words]
Six Fatalities In Six Days Lead Authorities To Believe A Batch Of Killer Heroin Is On The Streets In The City, And They Move To End The Destruction A super-potent or tainted batch of heroin may have killed six people in the city recently, authorities said yesterday, and they issued a citywide alert while police tried to locate the source of the killer drug. At the same time, health officials braced for an anticipated rush by addicts looking for a more intense high, as was the case in 1991 when 12 addicts died and 100 others were poisoned in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after using heroin spiked with fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic. [continues 544 words]
The Police Department is changing the way it handles confidential informants, restructuring the entire system to better protect them from retribution and to cut down on the use of those proven to be unreliable, Newsday has learned. The overhaul comes on the heels of several embarrassing incidents for police, most recently an order by a federal judge to disclose any internal documents that explain how it protects confidential informants. According to an internal document obtained by Newsday, the new Confidential Informant Review Committee will be run under the authority of the Intelligence Division, with information "maintained under strict and secure conditions." [continues 417 words]
The son of a veteran police officer died in a Brooklyn hospital Friday of an apparent cocaine overdose, a week after he collapsed while in police custody, police said yesterday. Brendan Ancona, 23, was rushed to Long Island College Hospital the morning of Sept. 21 after he had a massive seizure while in Brooklyn Central Booking, police said. Ancona had been taken into custody the night of Sept. 20 at Avenue P and Hendrickson Street in Marine Park. Police said narcotics officers saw Ancona get into a car and sell a small amount of marijuana to another man. [continues 219 words]
DEA Agent Shoots, Kills Suspect In Drug Investigation An unarmed man carrying three kilograms of cocaine was fatally shot yesterday during a struggle over a federal agent's gun after a car and foot chase through East Flatbush, officials said. The man, Egbert Dewgard, 31, was shot once in the right lower back by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who caught him after the 17-block chase, officials said. The agent's name was not released. Dewgard, who owns a printing shop on Flatbush Avenue and has two sons and a daughter, ages 3 to 9, was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital Center. [continues 496 words]
The Brooklyn print-shop owner shot dead during a struggle with a federal agent in East Flatbush was identified as a member of a drug organization by an underling cooperating with investigators, a police source said yesterday. Egbert Dewgard, 31, seemingly does not fit the profile of the drug suspect. He owns a Flatbush Avenue print shop passed on to him by his father. He dotes on his three young children, his outraged family said. And it does not appear he has a criminal record. [continues 353 words]
Angry residents, still upset over January's police shooting of a seemingly deranged man in their neighborhood, surrounded the Rev. Terry Lee as he tried to wash away the blood from yesterday's fatal shooting of a drug suspect in East Flatbush. Lee, who was being assisted in the cleanup effort by Richard Green, head of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, stopped his work when someone in the crowd shouted: "Don't hide it by doing that. It's not going away. It's a reminder. That could be you." [continues 370 words]
An unarmed man carrying three kilograms of cocaine was fatally shot Wednesday during a struggle over a federal agent's gun after a car and foot chase through East Flatbush, officials said. The man, Egbert Dewgard, 31, was shot once in the right lower back by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, who caught him after the 17-block chase, officials said. The agent's name was not released. Dewgard, who owns a printing shop on Flatbush Avenue and has two sons and a daughter, ages 3 to 9, was pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital Center. [continues 534 words]
Mayor Giuliani yesterday rushed to the defense of an undercover narcotics cop who killed an unarmed man as the Rev. Al Sharpton demanded that feds intervene in the case, saying "we can't trust local prosecutors." "There's no question that there was a struggle that took place here," the mayor said. "There's no question that the person who was killed has a criminal record. He's been arrested for robbery, attempted robbery, and possession of a gun. None of that is reported on the news." [continues 560 words]
