Dibble was drunk at the time and reportedly had a BAC of .18.

The courts just awarded him $2.3 million!

They found that the train operator saw him in time to stop, but did not.  Dibble’s lawyers allege that the train operator saw Dibble and had 180 feet of room to stop, but did not.

The train operator’s lawyer says the driver thought Dibble was simply trash on the tracks.

Dibble admits being intoxicated and does not even remember the incident.

So how is it that this is the fault of the MTA? This guy was drunk, fell onto the tracks, and was hit by a train.  It is absolutely an unfortunate situation.  Obviously, Dibble will never be the same again, but how is that the fault of the train?

It’s not like the driver actually saw a person on the tracks and said to hell with it…hit him.  It’s extremely traumatic for the person driving the train when they hit someone.  Actually, the MTA requires crews associated with this kind of incident to undergo psychological counseling.

It just boggles the mind.

My ride home was all f-ed up.  I got onto the platform only to see 10,000 other people already waiting for the train delayed due to rain.

By pure miracle, I made it onto the first train that finally came 15 minutes later.  People were getting so pissed that they left the station (to go back out into the rain!).  It just so happened that a guy in front of me got fed up and left.  A minute later, the train came and a door lined up with me perfectly.

The train immediately switched from a local to an express train…pissing off many.

So yeah, being right all the time is getting pretty old.

Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season.

An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a “plausible but unsubstantiated” report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

Anti-terror agencies say they have no specific details to confirm the plot has moved “beyond aspirational planning,” but are issuing the alert out of concern that an attack could come during the holiday season,” warns the memo, which is dated Tuesday.

While federal agencies often issue all sorts of advisory warnings, the language of this one is particularly forceful.

Goooood times.  So in addition to battling the tourists on 5th Avenue, and trying not to kill yourself inside Toys R Us, you now have to work about getting blown up on the subway.

I have to say, I did not notice any additional security in the subway system today.

Would now be a good time for the terrorists to attack?  Probably.  The subway will be at it’s peak volume all December long.

Then there’s the Presidential transition.  Bush already has one foot out the door.  He’s in no position to be able to make long term decisions appropriately because he won’t have to deal with the consequences.  All he will have to do is make it through the following couple weeks and then it’s Obama’s problem to deal with.  It’s probably the time that the country will be weakest.

Ho ho ho.

Or at least discuss strategies.  Yikes.

There’s two fairly large, old men that ride the subway every morning.  I see them at least a couple times a month together.  They’re already on the train when I get on, so they must live further uptown.

They have really distinct old-man gravely voices, and are quite round in the middle.  They usually sit across from each other on the train and chat about old men issues.

Today, I was close enough to be able to understand what they were talking about.

Turns out, they are old men drug dealers.  Good to know that age is just a number.

One was talking about a client that wants more than he’s able to get.  They were talking about it in a somewhat cryptic way, but you knew what they were talking about.

“He keeps asking for four, but i can’t get him that many.”

“Why not? I thought you got six when you go up there.”

“Yeah.”

“So you keep the rest for personal use.”

“Yeah, and my guy won’t sell me more than that.”

“How much you sellin’ for?  $15?”

“Uh huh.”

“So here’s what you do, you tell him you can get six but you’re gonna have to make two trips.  When you come back, say you could only get three.  Then when he makes a fuss about it, tell him you have a fourth, but that’s it.”

“I don’t know.”

“Or you sell him three today, and three tomorrow.  Then you still have six left over for the next time.”

So it was a meeting of the minds to say the least.  They then got into a discussion about people buying on credit and not paying up.  Good times.

I was on my way to a second day of torture jury duty.  I made my connection to an express train and actually scored a seat.  Sweet.

It was a pretty crowded train, just as any train rolling through midtown during rush hour is. All of a sudden…

AAHHHhhhh CHOOOOOOOOO!!

Ahhhh CHHHooo

AAAAAAHHHHH choo.

(That’s a guy sneezing…FYI)

A few sneezes ring out in the crowd.  That’s just gross in general, especially in a crowded train.  But hey, it happens.  There’s nothing you, as the sneezer, can really do to avoid it.

Unfortunately, this guy didn’t even make an attempt at covering his mouth.  He just let them rip like he was standing alone in the woods or something.  WOW.

Well, I thought the people around him were going to commit a hate crime.  Holy crap did this guy get reamed out, and deservedly so.

Much to my disappointment, there were no punches thrown.  Oh well.  Gonna file this one in the “crime” category anyway.

Photo Credit

SUBWAYblogger is getting reports that an officer was shot in the subway in Queens.

Sources tell us that at least one cop was shot.  A second officer was also injured and taken to the hospital.  Not sure if that officer was shot as well.

The suspect(s) are in custody and are also reported to have been shot.

This all has allegedly occurred at the F train in Queens at 21st Street and 41st Ave.

UPDATE: Confirmed that two police officers were shot at Queensboro Bridge Station.

Update Update: Two officers, Shane Farina and Jason Maass, were attempting to arrest a suspect for using a child’s student fare card (shocking) when a struggle broke out.  The suspect grabbed one of the officer’s guns and opened fire on both of them.

One cop was shot in the chest, the other in the back.

The officers managed to radio ahead to their lieutenant, who was positioned near the token booth.  The lieutenant drew down on the suspect and opened fire, shooting the suspect 4 times.

Suspect Raul Nunez faces attempted murder and could get 25 years to life.

We took the three of them and strung them together.  They show unattended bags, with no voiceover.  Then shows the tip line phone number.  That’s it.  For some reason, the sound didn’t work when I put them together.  Just imagine the sounds of the subway.

So yeah.  I’m hoping they had interns make these, and didn’t actually pay anyone to make them.  What a joke.

There was a small group of teenage kids standing just outside the turnstiles.  You could tell just by looking at them that they were up to no good.

Couldn’t really tell how old they were.  I’m guessing they were about 14 or 15 years old.  They were all pretty tall.  One was probably 6 feet tall.  But they looked young.  Really lanky.  Frankly, it was almost comical because they were really tall, super skinny, but had huuuuuuuuuge baggy pants and hoodies on.  Like all three of them could have fit into the same pair of pants at the same time.

Anyway, one of them made a dash for it to skip out on the fare and hop the turnstile.  They didn’t realize that leaning against the wall was a cop, just out of their view.

The cop ran over just as the second one was going over.  Both of the kid’s feet were in mid air when the cop went two hands on.  He snatched him out of mid air and in one clean motion dropped him chest first onto the ground.  It was amazing.

The kid that made it over already took off running.  The other kid who had not yet attempted the jump took off out of the station.  So two got away, but the look on their faces was priceless.

Cuffs on.  Game over.

Subway super hero Wesley Autrey is mourning the loss of his surrogate son.

Roy Huntley, 24, was found on a Manhattan street on Sunday with a gunshot wound to the head.  Police believe he may have gotten into a fight with his attackers.

Autrey told reporters he treated Huntley “like he was my own.”

Wouldn’t you know it.  Just as the MTBA up north digs into their own issues with computer geeks hacking the CharlieCard, it turns out we have our own homegrown hackers right here in NYC.

I had written a post wishing the MIT students would come down here and beat up on the Metrocard system, but it turns out there was a few guys that already hit the jackpot…a $800,000 jackpot as a matter of fact.

Apparently, three guys discovered a vulnerable Metrocard machine at Penn Station that they somehow got to spit out cards.  They would then sell the rides.

However, it looks like they started the scam back in 2005, and it’s taken this long for them to arrest the guys.  An audit revealed the discrepancy, but who knows how long that took to uncover.

Apparently, some students at MIT made it a class project to hack the Boston subway system (aka the T).  As a matter of fact, the title of the project is: “The Anatomy of a Subway Hack: Breaking Crypto RFIDs & Magstripes of Ticketing Systems.”

Now, the students are computer security majors, so you can see the fit.

They planned to give their 80+ slide presentation at Defcon, a very large security conference.

However, the MTBA sued to have the presentation stopped.  A judge ordered a temporary restraining order keeping the presentation quiet.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) got involved to fight the order.

Anyway, the kids had successfully shown how to generate and reverse engineer CharlieCards and CharlieTickets, the Boston version of Metrocards.

They basically did in a semester what any professional hackers could do, but planed to use it as an educational tool.  Sure, stealing rides is illegal, but the bigger issue is that some students were able to beat a system pretty easily.

Makes me wonder what kind of havoc they could wreak with the Metrocard system.

I always knew that…hell it says so right on the sign they have at the table.  However, I never really thought about it that much until I read this from a SUBWAYblogger commenter.

So if a terrorist were to get stopped for an inspection, all they would have to do is say no, and get on the train somewhere else.

Kinda scary.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Yes, I know this isn’t NYC)

The NYPD received a $30 million grant to increase subway security in a major way.  However, it seems like they are only focusing on major subway hubs. 

The police units, part of a new program called Operation TORCH, will focus on major transit hubs, including Times Square, Herald Square and Grand Central Terminal, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. [1010 WINS]

I’m not sure what good that does.  I guess it deters an attack from those stations.  However, a terrorist could just get on at a different stop!

All they would have to do is get on a random stop and ride straight into Times Square or Grand Central and detonate a bomb.  So I don’t think it makes it any safer from a terrorism perspective.

On a petty crime level like purse snatching and pickpocketing, that will probably go down on the fortified stations, but that’s probably about it.

As a result, the police immediately suspended subway service in Times Square. Luckily, trains kept moving and simply bypassed Times Square. However, since TS is a major transfer hub, bypassing it makes it a little tricky for commuters.

Luckily, service resumed fairly quickly…or somewhat quickly.

The station was/is basically on super secure mode. Trains entering the station were boarded by police dogs and checked before being allowed to proceed. In the station itself, there were officers in SWAT gear with machine guns. There were many people being randomly stopped and checked as well.

This will likely continue for the next few days. However, as the mayor said, it’s back to business as usual in Times Square, with a few more automatic weapons near by.

Early reports indicate that there was a jumper at 77th Street on or near the 6 train that had suspended service in both directions for a period of time.

The NYPD DCPI reports that there does not appear to be any indication that the person was pushed, or that there was any foul play.  Emergency services responded, but the person in question was DOA.

All we know for now.

The kid was on (literally) a downtown C train.� Witnesses say that he may have been train surfing.

What the hell is train surfing?� It’s riding on the top of the subway cars like an old western movie.� Possibly one of the dumbest ideas ever.

The “victim” was on top of the train, according to witness reports, when the train went under an overpass.� You can fill in the blanks from there.� I will insert the sound effect:� SPLAT!

I know, I know.� I’m going to get chewed apart in the comments for being insensitive.� I don’t care.� Folks, this is Darwinism at its best.� As a species, our future is a little better of than it was yesterday.

If it turns out that the kid accidentally fell off an overpass, onto the top of the train, and then surfed it downtown, I will retract my statement.

All the details are/were unconfirmed at the time this was posted.� However, my secret sources say this is pretty much a closed case.

In the wee hours yesterday morning, you may have heard that 2 train service was all messed up in the Bronx “because of police activity.”� Translation:� Dead guy found on the tracks.� This all happened in the Farms Square-East Tremont Avenue station .

Here’s where this whole thing turns into the next episode of Law & Order…

Police investigators found a small piece of paper on the man with a woman’s name.� So, they decided to get in touch with her hoping that she could possibly identify this guy.� They showed up at her apartment only to find that she had been murdered!� [cue dramatic music]

The police said they were investigating the deaths as a possible case of murder and suicide, but emphasized that they had not definitively linked the man to the woman or to her death. [NT Times]

Mercedes Mesa, 62, of 1050 Anderson Avenue in the Bronx, was found to have been killed due to head injuries.�

The only thing that would make this more dramatic is if they find out that this guy was thrown onto the track by someone else.� Either way, that’s how it will play out on Law & Order in a few months.� Can’t wait.

He claimed that he had moved beyond graffiti, exhibiting his art in galleries, lecturing at universities and working as a commercial artist, but yesterday, as part of a three-borough plea bargain with prosecutors, the legendary 1980s graffiti creator known as Alan Ket pleaded guilty in Manhattan to leaving his art on subway cars from 2004 to 2006. [NY Times]

Ket (aka Alain Maridue�a) is going to pay $12,000 in fines to avoid jail time.

The police actually served him with a warrant (13+ years later) to search his home. They seized his computer and a variety of other “graffiti related materials.” Apparently, some of them were collectors items from the 60′s and 70′s.

So rather than go after current offenders, they are more worried about getting those 80′s punks before a judge.

Mayor Bloomberg went on a little trip to London this week.� He liked what he saw in their public transporation system.� All of their busses and subways have 2 to 3 cameras in each car.

I think it is a great idea.� It will hopefully make us safer…that’s obvious.� But what I’m really hoping it will do is cut down on the graffiti and defacement of the subways.�

Bloomberg also enjoyed their community bike program.

I hate all that etched crap that those asshole wannabe artists/gangsters tag on the windows.� This would catch them on tape.� Of course, this all assumes that there would be some sort of enforcement associated with the taping.� It will not do any good if the police don’t follow up on what they see.� So I guess that’s just another challenge.�

Unfortunately, Bloomberg said something that I know is going to come back to haunt him almost immediately:�

“We just have to do something here to make the city safer. Sadly, it is a little bit of an infringement on your rights,” Bloomberg told a news conference. [Reuters]

Some NYC busses have cameras mounted in them.� However, you don’t often hear of many bus related crimes for some reason.

Anway, our subway survelance security is pretty pathetic.� There’s entire stops that have one or no cameras at all.

There’s a reason that there’s cameras every 8 feet in casinos, banks, federal buildings, shopping malls, etc.� They help protect the people and the property.�

Protecting the people has its obvious benefits.� Protecting the property protects what Americans value most…their money.� Lowering vandalism will actually save tax payer/fare payer money in the long run.

I was up at Columbia this afternoon, and heading to the train on my way home.  I happened to be closer to the 110th Street station, so I headed in that direction (versus the 116th stop).

Quickly, realized that was a bad idea.  The place was crawling with NYPD and rescue.  From the look of it, I thought for sure there was a jumper or something.  People standing around said there was a fight.  Looked like there was way too many cops and EMT’s for a simple fight.

So I went back to 116th thinking that the train would at least roll by 110th where I could get a better look. Well it did roll by…without stopping.  The police had closed the stop.

So I went home not really knowing much more than that.

Just moments ago, I found out the real story thanks to Newsday.  It turns out that there was a multiple stabbing that involved three teens.

The kids started fighting at 59th Street/Columbus Circle.  The fight eventually spilled out onto the street at 110th.  Two of them ended up stabbed or slashed.  The other was beaten with a cane.  (Are kids carrying whipping canes these days?)

I love this quote from a witness:

“This is a grassroots problem,” said Shira Dicker, 45, of Morningside Heights. “Anybody who rides the rails knows that the kids are a real menace.”

The AP reports that non-caned were slashed in the face.  Sweet, at least that will build future “street cred.”

However, there were no arrests made, which seems a little odd.  Perhaps there’s more people involved that didn’t get catch the business end of a blade…or cane.

(Editor’s note:  I know 110th isn’t technically Columbia.  However, if you are familiar with the area, then you know that from 110th – North is definitely college territory.)

Words of wisdom from the MTA that escaped some dude recently.

AMNY Tracker reports that today’s morning Q train snafu was due to a subway surfer.  No, not some idiot riding inside the train pretending to surf down the middle of the isle.  No, instead it is usually a rider on top of (as in the outside) the train or clinging to the side.

This practice is discouraged, hence the MTA Subchat campaign pictured above.

Who in the hell would actually do something like that?  Well, just last month, SUBWAYblogger posted a video clip of an entire train’s worth of idiots riding on the outside of the train.  Of course, that was a different country, but you get he point.

It took 45 minutes to get the guy off the top of the Q train which stopped between stations.  If I were stuck on that train, it wouldn’t have mattered if the guy got off alive because I would absolutely killed him anyway.  He would have had a better shot at surviving the trip on the roof.

“It’s happened before and usually when it happens, the person gets killed,” said Transit spokesman Charles Seaton.

Uhhh…yeah.  No shock there.

For that matter, do kids that live in New York have any right to complain about being bored?  I mean are these kids that bored out of their minds that they have to train surf for entertainment?  You essentially live at the center of the modern universe, yet you cant find anything better to do with you time than this kind of crap?

However, it turns out that at least one of the shots Officer Annmarie Marchiondo took the other night came from the gun of another police officer.  The wound her foot was determined to be friendly fire.  It is still unclear if the other two shots came from officers or the suspect they were attempting to take into custody.

Marchiondo was still in the hospital today.

Newsday reports:

After the officers took [Juan] Calves off the train at the 176th Street station and began searching him, he grabbed Marchiondo in a head lock and pulled out a stolen 9mm gun, police said. When she broke free, he opened fire on the other officers; they returned fire and killed him.

Hey, one less crazy, repeat felon on the streets.

Crazy story. So crazy it sounds like something out of a movie.

Suspect Juan Calves, 51, was detained by by plainclothes police officers when he and another man were spotted riding between train cars. The officers removed him from the train onto the downtown 4 train at 178th Street in the Bronx.

All of a sudden, Calves allegedly went nuts, and put Officer Annmarie Marchiondo into a headlock. While she struggled to get free, Calves apparently pulled out a stolen 9mm gun and started firing shots at the platform.

The other two officers returned fire, killing Calves. The officers fired 13 shots (here comes Al Sharpton). Officer Marchiondo was shot in the foot, ankle, and just under her bulletproof vest. She is in stable condition.

Why nutcase Calves was on the streets is another issue all together. He’s apparently a career criminal. According to the AP:

Calves was freed on parole from prison two years ago after serving time for manslaughter, robbery, and attempt to promote prison contraband. The manslaughter conviction involved the killing of a fellow prison inmate at Attica Correctional Facility, police said.

That’s a pretty crazy story. The officers must not have had a chance to frisk him yet. They usually don’t do that until they get a suspect off the train.

The truly scary thing is that each one of us probably rides the train with someone like Calves every day. Thanks to our justice system, there are people with manslaughter and multiple other felonies standing right next to us on a crowded train. Maybe they aren’t doing anything wrong…but how are we supposed to know that they aren’t just a ticking time bomb?

(Photo from the NYPD of Officer Marchiondo)

Jose Sierra, 19, was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. Witnesses say that they heard multiple shots, then saw Sierra laying on the ground with a large hole in his head.

Hopefully, the token booth clerk wasn’t asleep (like this woman) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and this guy) (and don’t forget this guy). WOW. I’m a little nauseous now after seeing all those TWU bastards sleeping on the job. They should be stripped of the union raise that is just handed to them, and it should be given to other workers that actually manage to stay AWAKE during their shift.

Police have no suspects but are looking for some people that were seen running from the scene. No arrests have been made.

This makes us wonder if there was a camera in that station. Wouldn’t you think that there should be a camera at every subway entrance/exit? Is that asking too much? That way, if a crime happens, you know you are going to catch the suspect on film when they enter or exit the station.

This whole topic is just making me too pissed off.