SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

A man was crushed to death by a tow truck this morning outside of the Lyghthouse Inn on Brigham Street.

Emergency responders were called to the scene just after 8:00 a.m. for an unconscious patient. FDNY EMS arrived and declared the man dead-on-arrival.

Early reports indicate the victim was a homeless man, although the FDNY could not confirm that.

Tipsters who were at the scene, including Pavel Itskovskiy who submitted the photo above, said that the man was pinned under the wheel of the truck.

The NYPD’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the incident.

Brooklyn: U/D 3206 Emmons Ave. NYPD reports that a homeless male was struck by a tow truck. Emmons Ave is blocked both directions.

— NYPD 911 Dispatch (@NYPD911Dispatch) June 26, 2014

Pedestrian struck by a tow truck driver at Emmons Ave & Brigham St, Brooklyn did not survive. #VisionZero

— Vision Zero for NYC (@VisionZeroNYC) June 26, 2014

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): We just received the following information from the NYPD:

On Thursday, June 26, 2014 at approximately 0745 hours police responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck at Brigham Street and Emmons Avenue in the confines of the 61 Precinct. Upon arrival police discovered an unconscious and unresponsive male with severe trauma to the body. EMS responded to the scene and pronounced the unidentified male DOA. A preliminary investigation determined that a 2002 Flatliner tractor trailer while backing into a parking space did roll over the male with his driver’s side rear wheel. The driver did remain on scene. The New York City Police Department’s Highway Collision Investigation Squad also responded to the location and the investigation is ongoing.

This is a breaking news story and may contain inaccuracies. We will update it as more information becomes available. If anyone has more information or additional photos, please send them to tips (at) sheepsheadbites (dot) com.

Screenshot from the surveillance video just a split second before the Mercedes crashed through the storefront. (via ABC)

Police have arrested Yvonne Batiz, charging her with a DWI after she drove her 2013 Mercedes through the Coney Island Avenue storefront of Federal Tax Masters between Avenue X and Avenue Y yesterday.

ABC reports:

Police responded to the Federal Tax Masters office in the 2700 block of Coney Island Avenue in Sheepshead Bay around 6 p.m. to find the car completely inside the business.

The entire crash was caught on surveillance video, which shows the 2013 Mercedes barreling down the street, hitting a parked car, crushing a parking meter and slamming into the storefront.

The surveillance video shows the driver heading south on Coney Island Avenue, then swerving across the yellow lines and northbound lanes for no apparent reason.

Batiz and her 54-year-old passenger were taken to Coney Island Hospital for minor injuries. Fortunately, no one was inside the accountant’s office, although the “reception area was reduced to rubble,” according to the outlet.

I’ve seen several drones – basically, remote control quadricopters with cameras, for you n00bs – up in the skies of Coney Island this summer, so this morning I decided to Google for any videos that have been uploaded.

Sure enough, there are four solid videos from four different drone pilots all filmed this summer. The best by far is the one on top by Eric Alexander, which offers some stunning daytime views and flies, probably irresponsibly, close to the Wonder Wheel.

Here’s a good night time one from David Fitzgerald, taking off on the boardwalk behind MCU Park.

Luna Park filmed their own drone video, capturing construction on the final loop of the new Thunderbolt.

And, finally, Chris Weidner went out on the beach with it in early May, getting some shots of the boardwalk and barren sands.

I, for one, am dying to pick up one of these drones and shoot some of my own videos. Unfortunately, due to some very stupid regulations, you can have a billion amateurs piloting drones in the sky for funsies. But because I’m a reporter, using it in any professional way is at the moment strictly prohibited. Figure that one out.

Photo by Yelena Udler

Morning Mug is our daily showcase of photographs from our readers. If you have a photograph that you’d like to see featured, send them to [email protected].

With kidnapped yeshiva teenage boys Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrah missing in captivity for 11 days, the Be Proud Foundation and Community Board 15 are teaming up to host a rally, June 26, 7:00 p.m. at Holocaust Memorial Park, to let the voices of southern Brooklynites be heard.

The boys, one of whom has strong Brooklyn roots, were kidnapped by the terrorist group Hamas while hitchhiking home from their religious school in the West Bank.

Event organizers invite the community to come out and hang yellow ribbons in solidarity with the boys, their families and the State of Israel, currently searching for them.

Source: Null Value via flickr

A 20-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the stomach at the Marlboro Houses (2250 West 11th Street) early this morning.

The man was exiting the elevator on the 16th floor of the building to visit his grandmother at approximately 1:40 a.m. when a gunman opened fire and put a bullet in his abdomen, police told this outlet.

The victim, whose identity was not released, was taken to Lutheran Hospital, where he remains in serious condition but is expected to survive.

Police do not yet have a suspect in the case, and are still investigating.

Marlboro Houses, like the majority of New York City Housing Authority developments, still do not have long-awaited security cameras. Earlier this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that work is finally underway on the $27 million installation of closed circuit cameras in 49 NYCHA developments, including the Marlboro Houses and Sheepshead – Nostrand Houses, and should be complete by the end of the year.

Photos of the staging area at the Fountain Avenue landfill. (Source: GooseWatch NYC)

Another day, another animal in the cross-hairs of the wildlife gestapo.

In the wacky world of wildlife preservation, we’ve seen battles rage over swans and cats in the past few weeks, and now concerns are being revived about the annual plans to round up and euthanize Canada geese.

The latest comes from GooseWatch NYC, an advocacy group that since 2010 has been sounding the alarm on the city’s annual goose culling. They say that members have spotted USDA Wildlife Services agents, which the city and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey contracts to manage the swan population, setting up a staging area at Canarsie’s Fountain Avenue Landfill (which has been folded into the wildlife refuge and is in the process of $20 million ecological restoration). Trucks with the USDA logo were photographed, along with kayaks, crates and corral gates used to round up the birds before carting them off for lethal gassing.

Such culling usually happens around this time every year, as Canada geese go through their molting period, hampering their flying ability and making them easier to capture.

The group is outraged, as they are every year, especially since the area is now part of the wildlife refuge. They also say that, following the 1,000 goose culling over the last two years, there are just a few dozen remaining in Jamaica Bay, suggesting that the agency seeks total annihilation and not just population control.

“It’s now obvious that the USDA intends to kill every last Canada goose they can at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a supposed safe haven for these creatures,” said David Karopkin, GooseWatch NYC’s founder, in a press release. “There is no need to kill these birds. It’s obscene and tragic, and the public has a right to know what our government is doing.”

The annual goose slaughters began in 2009 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The population reduction is being done to reduce collisions with jets at local airports, including JFK airport, located adjacent to the wildlife refuge, although critics say alternate methods, including radar upgrades, could do the trick more efficiently.

GooseWatch is also taking issue with the current mayor, who they say is walking back his campaign promise to seek out more humane ways to manage the population and reduce air strikes.

“Mayor de Blasio committed to put every approach on the table and work with independent experts and animal advocates, but now instead we’re learning that the cruel and ineffective goose removals will continue in NYC this summer, and perhaps for years to come,” said Karopkin.

A petition has been launched to end the lethal culling of geese in New York City. Another group, Friends of Animals, is planning a protest outside of the Port Authority’s headquarters (225 Park Avenue South) on Thursday, June 26, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The above photo was taken yesterday on the Emmons Avenue side of the Ocean Avenue footbridge. Captured by reader Andrey G., “Someone dumps bagels and bread into the Bay on industrial scale.”

It’s true, and it’s not the first time we’ve seen this. While many come to the waterfront with fistfuls of crumbs to feed the swans, others have taken it to some pretty severe extremes. It even looks like some businesses may be purposely chucking their end-of-day leftovers into the water, presumably to avoid paying the carting fees to have it properly tossed.

And it’s not just bread and bagels. A few weeks ago we were tipped off to the fact that someone decided to chuck three whole large pizzas in the Bay. It made for quite a sight as they surfed the waves (and unfortunately wasn’t captured on camera).

As you can see, the swans aren’t interested. They get their fill both naturally and from those who toss in crumbs. This is just overkill, and actually incredibly bad for the health of the birds and other wildlife.

In the midst of the fight to protect Sheepshead Bay’s swans, actions like these sure lend an argument to those who’d prefer to see them exterminated. So knock it off, or this will become yet another reason of why we can’t have nice things.

The head of the New York City Office of Recovery and Resiliency is getting behind the Bloomberg-era plan to replace the Riegelmann Boardwalk’s wooden slats with concrete, saying that concrete fared better in Superstorm Sandy.

Recovery chief Daniel Zarrilli testified before the City Council last Thursday, telling them that the choice of concrete was a “sound” decision since it performs better in storms.

He added that the de Blasio administration will continue to replace the wooden boards with concrete going forward.

Bloomberg made the decision to replace the boardwalk with concrete after instituting a citywide ban on tropical hardwood in public projects, the material the boardwalk, as well as other fixtures like benches, have historically been made of. It has been fought for several years by locals who want to see the iconic wood stay, and they even filed suit against the city in 2012. Several compromises were sought, including using alternate wood materials, plastic and a combination of all three – although the city made clear its preference for concrete.

But the announcement that the new administration will stick with the plan because it performed well in Sandy is sure to be challenged by critics. In the wake of the storm, locals said that the concrete allowed sand to pile up on the boardwalk, and also served as a less effective buffer protecting the community from the flooding. They also say the concrete accelerates erosion and is less effective at drainage during storms.

The two councilmembers whose districts overlap the boardwalk, Chaim Deutsch and Mark Treyger, both support using wood.

Somedays, headline inspiration just doesn’t come.

Photo by Bona Weiss

Morning Mug is our daily showcase of photographs from our readers. If you have a photograph that you’d like to see featured, send them to [email protected].