Gawker: Train employees discovered a man on fire this weekend after he apparently accidentally electrocuted himself while train surfing in Connecticut. According to reports Metro-North employees discovered Brian McClellen, 21, burning on top of a Manhattan-bound commuter train when the power suddenly shut off around 5 am Sunday. McClellen had reportedly been enjoying a long train-surfing session when he was suddenly electrocuted by a mechanical arm called a pantograph, which transfers electrical currents from overhead lines to the train.Greenwich police told reporters they believe there may have been an explosion when McClellen was electrocuted. Metro-North employees had to use fire extinguishers to rescue the 21-year-old, who was transported to a burn unit and remains in critical condition. “Subway surfing is simply one of the dumbest things you can do,” reports common sense and an MTA spokesperson.
DailyNews: Keep your hands — and opinion — to yourself on the subway. What began as a young woman taunting a man on the F train devolved into a wild subway brawl when he turned around and slapped the girl in an incident that was caught on video. The blow knocked the woman back five feet as another man jumped in and exchanged punches with the attacker, according to the undated viral footage, which was uploaded to YouTube on Saturday and already has more than 600,000 views. The NYPD said it is looking into the incident on the Washington Square station-bound F train, but didn’t have details. The video “Man smacks the soul out of girl on the NY Subway” shows a young woman with two female friends egging her on while she verbally abused the lanky man, wearing a leather 8 ball jacket and fur hat. She can be heard insulting his style sense as he nodded and smiled. Eventually, the man filming the incident caught the girl’s attention. She jumped up from her seat and knocked the phone from his hands twice. Then the woman continued to verbally abuse the tall man in the hat.
Look, I’m NEVER for a woman getting hit but a man can only take so much when a chick is hitting you in the face with a nine inch heel. How about that slap though?! My Lord!
Side note: Just remember, domestic violence is not cool–because the NFL says so!
Gothamist: Litchfield Penitentiary’s resident double-crosser’s better known for trying to seduce bible thumpers than out-preach them, but it looks like IRL Big Boo’s got other ideas—this morning, Orange Is The New Black star Lea DeLaria had some choice words for a dreaded hate-spewing subway preacher on the M train, railing at him for sermonizing against liberals and homosexuals and informing him that he and the Tea Party are “everything that’s wrong with America.” A tipster who wishes to remain anonymous sent us the following videos, taken on a Queens-bound M train at around 9 a.m. this morning. After engaging her fellow straphangers in a rousing rendition “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” DeLaria, clad in a t-shirt emblazoned with “Bad Jew,” gets right up into the irritating preacher’s face, calling him a “creepy religious fanatic,” accusing him of lobbing a homosexual slur at her and repeatedly begging him to cease his proselytizing.
Never seen an episode of ‘Orange Is The New Black’ and most likely never will. Simply put it’s just not my type of humor. But after seeing the videos above I can tell you if I were on this train I would probably attempt to jump from it while it was moving. Religious freaks are top 3 most annoying people on the NYC subway but the only thing that makes the situation worse is when people speak out against them. Doesn’t matter if they are right or not–now you just have two lunatics yelling and everyone else in that car with a headache and anxiety.
Gothamist: F train riders in Queens narrowly escaped a horrible situation when a 10-inch wide drill bit nearly went through the train car yesterday. According to the Daily News, “A contractor operating a drill as part of the MTA’s East Side Access project mistakenly penetrated a Queens subway tunnel on Thursday, and the massive bit scraped the top and side of an occupied F train.” The train was headed to Jamaica, Queens at around 11:45 a.m. when the drill hit the train car as it left the 21st Street-Queensbridge station. The Post’s sources tell the tabloid that “the operator heard a thundering noise on the roof and stopped the subway with the emergency brakes — and then discovered the drill extending from the roof of the tunnel to the floor, which struck down just inches from the side of the train.” The drill was being used by contractor Griffin Dewatering New England, Inc. Another source told the Post, “Somebody made a mistake; maybe a surveyor or a field engineer. They drilled into the street but didn’t realize they were right over the F train tunnel. They weren’t supposed to be in that spot.” And the News’ MTA source said, “Some people don’t follow instructions; they drilled deeper than they were supposed to.” Passengers were taken off the train and put onto an emergency train. One passenger was sanguine: “I wasn’t worried, I just assumed it was normal MTA crap. Something’s always breaking, you’re underground so you’re pretty much secluded from knowing if there is any real danger.” Anything’s better than a used condom brushing against your hair, right?
This is some serious Final Destination kinda shit. Imagine the person who was sitting in the seat next to that drill? Unfortunately it seems death will be coming for them in the next few days.
This is just the repercussions of being a real life pimp in New York City. You can’t pass up a business opportunity and you certainly can’t back down in front of one of your hoes. Just a day in the life I suppose.
Side Note: How about the guy in the blue shirt who immediately regretted trying to break this thing up?!
Gothamist: A subway busker was arrested for loitering after a confrontation with an NYPD officer over whether or not he was allowed to be performing. The incident happened at the Lorimer Street / Metropolitan Avenue station on the southbound G train platform around 1:30 a.m. on Friday. Here’s how the video uploader described the quality of life incident: “One of NYPD’s finest arrests a man for playing in the subway after he recites the law word for word that allows him to perform for donations,” the uploader wrote. “He continues to sing as he is being handcuffed. A “fuck the police” chant subsequently follows.”
The video starts with busker Andrew Kalleen, 30, already arguing with the officer over whether or not he is allowed to be performing there. “You just need to know the law,” Kalleen says to the officer while begging him to read MTA’s own “Rules of Conduct” about the matter. As onlookers shout, “we have bigger problems in New York City than someone playing guitar,” the officer eventually reads the relevant section of the rules (Section 1050.6c, which Kalleen wisely seems to have memorized) from a phone:
Except as expressly permitted in this subdivision, no person shall engage in any nontransit uses upon any facility or conveyance. Nontransit uses are noncommercial activities that are not directly related to the use of a facility or conveyance for transportation. The following nontransit uses are permitted by the Authority, provided they do not impede transit activities and they are conducted in accordance with these rules: public speaking; campaigning; leafletting or distribution of written noncommercial materials; activities intended to encourage and facilitate voter registration; artistic performances, including the acceptance of donations
The onlookers clap at the end, but the officer is unmoved, insisting that Kalleen needs to leave: “Being ejected doesn’t mean you’re arrested, it means you’re getting thrown out of the station.” Kalleen says the officer is harassing him, and more and more people begin asking the officer under what grounds the busker is being ejected, to which the officer doesn’t respond. Kalleen goes back to singing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” for a bit before the officer shuts him down. You can hear people yelling, “On what grounds?” “You don’t have something better to do?” and “There are people breaking laws, dangerous people in this city.” Kalleen briefly starts singing again when the officer walks away before returning with several other cops. The officer takes the guitar off of Kalleen, hitting him in the face in the process, then arrests him. Onlookers loudly boo and start yelling “Fuck the police,” as Kalleen is taken off.
An NYPD’s spokesperson tells us that Kalleen was playing guitar, singing and accepting donations “without permit of permission” from the MTA. Because he is a “transit recidivist,” which the spokesperson explained as someone having an open ticket or warrant, perhaps related to turnstile jumping or a similar offense—he was arrested and charged with loitering. There was no mention of him impeding transit activities. BuskNY, a coalition of freelance performers, gathered on the steps of City Hall over the summer to call for an end to officers arresting, jailing, and slamming them with pricey summonses for an activity they know to be legal under the MTA’s guidelines.
OK, so not a great look for the NYPD here. The cop knew he fucked up but he had already gone too far and had to save face somehow. Probably didn’t need the other 10 cops to save him from the hipster crowd that was gathering but then again the guy had his shit everywhere like it was his own bedroom. Before you go feeling bad for this guy just remember he’ll probably spend a couple hours in jail and then win a big wrongful arrest lawsuit. ‘Merica!
Gothamist: No matter how many times we have to beg, straphangers seem to insist on bringing their snakes on the subway. This week’s subterranean serpent story comes courtesy of one C train rider, who spotted a man with not one, but two snakes at around 11 p.m. last night. TWO SNAKES. Of course, the seasoned subway rider sitting next to our fair snake charmer seems completely nonplussed, even in the midst of what appears to be an intimate moment between Man and Snake. Eric Hertzog, who snapped the above photos, tells us the photo was taken on a northbound C train, and that the snake owner disembarked at 14th Street. “The guy was sitting there with a girl (don’t know what their relationship was) and at first he had a smaller snake just hanging from the railing while another snake was in between his legs. He then took the smaller snake off the railing and was just playing with them for a little. When people got on the subway they all looked over in that direction and probably said to themselves, “What the hell.” One man almost sat right next to the guy but the man with the snakes let him know that were snakes on his lap and then that guy ran to the other side of the subway car. He then put the snakes in separate bags and then both into his backpack and off he went.” Please note that it is indeed illegal to expose your snake on the subway, since MTA rules mandate that “no person may bring any animal on or into any conveyance or facility unless enclosed in a container and carried in a manner which would not annoy other passengers.” The Tale of Two Subway Snakes was first picked up by KTU 103.5 FM, who asked if this was “The Scariest Thing You’ve Ever Seen On The Train?”
“Enough is enough! I’ve had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking train!” -kinda Samuel L. Jackson
Gothamist: The police have released a new video of the suspect who threw a smoke bomb into a Greenwich Village restaurant on Friday night. You can see him slowly opening the subway grate—prompting one pedestrian to walk around the grate—and then emerging to toss the device. The suspect then quickly ducks back underground. (This subway grate connects to the West 4th Street subway station.) The smoke bomb was thrown into Bar Pitti, which is located at 268 Avenue of the Americas and has a popular sidewalk seating area, around 5:49 p.m. It’s also a celebrity hangout. Da Silvano’s manager denies his restaurant was behind the attack; the Post reports: Da Silvano owner Silvano Marchetto and his former business partner, Bar Pitti’s Giovanni Tognozzi, have been beefing over stolen meatball recipes and corporate back-stabbing since 2002. “I know about the fighting, but I haven’t heard anything about it in a very long time,” said the manager, who identified himself as Alessio. Police sources said they do not believe that the rivalry played a role, but have ruled nothing out. The Post adds, “The bomb was made by a UK company and is sold on Amazon.com and eBay for as little as $8.” Cops describe the suspect as around 20 years old, with blond wavy hair. He was last seen wearing black gloves, black baseball cap, and a multi colored t-shirt. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.
SubwayCreatures 