Port Authority Of NY and NJ Police Catch Toll Cheats Who Owe $200,000 On George Washington Bridge

George Washington Bridge Between New York and New Jersey

[From article]

Port Authority cops cracked down on toll cheats at the George Washington Bridge on Tuesday, busting six drivers who owe more than a total $200,000 in unpaid tolls and penalties, police said.
The alleged deadbeat drivers were caught between 4 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. trying to sneak from New Jersey to Manhattan by using such tricks as defaced or missing license plates to avoid paying the toll.
The biggest alleged toll cheat was Jerome Daly, 58, of Teaneck, NJ, who owes $79,423 in unpaid tolls and penalties. That sum includes $16,423 in unpaid tolls and $63,000 in penalties for 1,260 infractions.
“Cheats put additional stress on the transportation network without providing the resources needed to maintain it,” said Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye.
“Today’s crackdown sends a clear message that if you don’t pay your share, you will be held accountable.”
Also busted was Carlos Acosta, 34, of Ridgefield Park, NJ, who drives for Krenz Express LLC, a Garfield trucking firm.
He allegedly owes $3,672 to the Port Authority, representing $2,272 in unpaid tolls and $1,400 more in penalties for 28 past violation. He was driving a tractor trailer with a defaced license plate.

http://nypost.com/2016/06/28/george-washington-toll-cheats-owe-more-than-200k/

George Washington toll cheats owe more than $200K
By Philip Messing
New York Post
June 28, 2016 | 11:01pm

Gentleman Found Dead After Jumping From Weeks Footbridge in Cambridge, MA

[From article]

An Allston man died after jumping off the Weeks Footbridge into the Charles River on Tuesday morning, according to police.
Just before 7 a.m., a rower and dog walker reported to police that a man jumped into the river and did not resurface. The State Police dive team and Marine Unit as well as Harvard University Police and the Cambridge Fire Department responded and began a search for the man. Around 8 a.m., the man was found and Cambridge Fire divers pulled him out of the water using a floating stokes device, according to Assistant Fire Chief Gerard Mahoney. He was transported to Mount Auburn Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20160517/NEWS/160516545

Police: Allston man dies after being recovered from Charles River
By Amy Saltzman
asaltzman (at) wickedlocal.com
Posted May 17, 2016 at 9:08 AM
Updated at 11:07 AM

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[From article]

Officials responded to a call Tuesday morning after a dog walker reported seeing an adult male jump from the Weeks footbridge, according to Jeremy Warnick, a Cambridge Police Department spokesperson.
About an hour and a half later, just past 8 a.m., a State Police team recovered the male from the river and transported him to Mt. Auburn Hospital, according to David A. Procopio, director of media communications for the Massachusetts State Police. The man, who is from Allston, was pronounced deceased at the hospital. State Police detectives are investigating the death, and have not yet released the name and age of the adult male.
The Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office is not currently considering the death suspicious, according to Elizabeth A. Vlock, a spokesperson for the office.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/5/17/charles-river-deceased-man/

Man Found in Charles River, Pronounced Dead
By BRANDON J. DIXON and BETH YOUNG

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
May 17, 2016

Updated: Suspected Suicides of Two Women in Separate NYC Incidents; 4 From Washington Bridge in 9 Days

Posted April 19, 2015 8:09 PM ET; Last updated April 29, 2015 8:54 PM ET



[From article]
A Long Branch man was identified as one of the latest victims in a pattern of suicides that’s happened lately at the George Washington Bridge: Four in nine days, police said.
The Cliffview Pilot said a woman also jumped to her death on Thursday, the third suicide victim in five days. No additional information was provident
Authorities have identified 54-year-old Kenneth Bell of Long Branch as the man who jumped from the bridge’s upper level on Tuesday, said Joseph Pentangelo, according to The Record of Bergen County.
Witnesses said Bell drove his car onto the upper roadway from the New Jersey side, got out, climbed over the railing and jumped, according to the report.
In the Thursday incident, witnesses said they saw a woman in her 20s take off her shoes and jump from the north walkway, and into the river about 4:30 p.m, according to the report.
http://patch.com/new-jersey/fortlee/cops-four-george-washington-bridge-suicides-nine-days

Cops: Four George Washington Bridge Suicides In Nine Days
Monmouth County resident identified as one of the latest victims.
By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)

April 27, 2015
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[From article]
Police sources said they did not find a suicide note inside Lubanko’s apartment, which she shared with another woman in her 20s, and said it is unclear why she killed herself.
But the woman’s artwork was dark and appeared troubled.
Lubanko regularly posted disturbing videos and drawings on a personal site. She also posted her work on Scary­Pretty.org, which describes itself as “glitteringly morbid,” according to a parent of one of her friends.
One of her pieces is titled “The Toilet Book,” a series of hand-drawn images and text that likens humanity to a bleak cesspool. “Hi, I am a human and I live in this toilet bowl of s–t-made things and evil people and all we do is swim in circles all day,” one of the pages reads.
A distraught man who identified himself as the woman’s father showed up with a suitcase to clear out his daughter’s belongings, but declined to answer questions.

http://nypost.com/2015/04/19/woman-hung-herself-from-brooklyn-fire-escape-cops/

Female artist left dangling after she hung herself on fire escape
By C.J. Sullivan, Dana Sauchelli and Daniel Prendergast
New York Post
April 19, 2015 | 1:01pm

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[From article]
A woman hung herself from a Brooklyn fire escape Sunday morning, and her body was left dangling for more than an hour, police and witnesses said.
The woman’s body was discovered around 8:20 a.m. hanging outside the third-floor window of her apartment on Utica Avenue and Prospect Place in Crown Heights, cop said.
“This is something you don’t want to wake up to on a Sunday morning. I thought it was fake, like a Halloween prank, and then I could see it was a [woman] hanging. I just screamed,” said passer-by Violet Acuna, 42.[. . .]
“She seemed like a nice girl. She was very social. Her parents were always around visiting,” said neighbor Stella Wiley, 66. “I saw her walking her dog at 7 a.m. She seemed OK.”

http://nypost.com/2015/04/19/woman-hung-herself-from-brooklyn-fire-escape-cops/

Woman ‘hung herself’ on fire escape, left dangling for over an hour
By C.J. Sullivan and Dana Sauchelli
New York Post
April 19, 2015 | 1:01pm

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[From article]
The 44-year-old woman, who was from Westchester, leaped from the north walkway of the bridge around 7:30 a.m., according to Port Authority Police.
Her body was recovered by NYC Harbor Unit and taken to the 125th Street pier, authorities said.
Her car was recovered in Fort Lee Historic Park in New Jersey, officials said.

http://nypost.com/2015/04/19/woman-jumps-to-her-death-from-gw-bridge/

Woman jumps to her death from GW Bridge
By Dana Sauchelli
New York Post
April 19, 2015 | 12:33pm

Cargo Ship Hits Brooklyn Bridge

[From article]
A cargo ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Friday night when its light tower clipped the iconic span, cops said.
The ship — which is named “Rainbow Quest” — was sailing south on the East River when its light tower collided with the underside of the bridge at about 11 p.m., forcing authorities to halt traffic for about two hours, according to cops.

http://nypost.com/2014/11/07/cargo-ship-hits-brooklyn-bridge-cops/

Cargo ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge
By Matt McNulty, Josh Saul and Gabrielle Fonrouge
November 7, 2014 | 11:47pm
New York Post

NYPD Full Court Press To Find Bridge Flag Thieves

NYPD has tightened security on the Brooklyn Bridge after unknown individuals climbed both towers and replaced the existing American flags with bleach ones.

Photo: Paul Martinka

[From article]
The intruders who beat NYPD anti-terror patrols to plant white flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge thought they were crafty by covering the lights with aluminum pans, but they left DNA evidence behind on some of the zip-ties, sources told The Post on Thursday.
Now cops are hoping to capitalize on the misstep and find a match in their database.
Investigators are also scouring social media, pulling phone logs and running hundreds of license plates, police sources said. They are tracking down all calls made from the bridge around the time the flags were replaced early Tuesday.
They obtained the online handles of at least two of the suspects and are going through computers records for their proper names, the sources said.

[. . .]
The humiliating breach came two years after flags were stolen from same towers by thieves who have still not been caught.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/24/cops-find-dna-on-white-flag-put-on-brooklyn-bridge/

Cops find DNA on zip-ties of potential white flag suspects
By Kirstan Conley and Natalie O'Neill
New York Post
July 24, 2014 | 7:20pm

NJ Governor Showed Leadership When Accused of Wrongdoing

[From article]
Governor Christie quickly fired the people he held responsible for deliberately creating a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge. Contrast that with the many scandals in Washington for which President Obama has not fired anyone.
[. . .]
Whatever the political fate of Governor Christie, he has provided an example of the kind of articulation that is needed — indeed, imperative — if the Republicans are to have any chance of rescuing this country from the ruinous policies of the past few years.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell011514.php3#.UuSydN30Czs

Jewish World Review 

Jan. 15, 2014/ 14 Shevat, 5774
Christie, Hillary and Obama
By Thomas Sowell

Bridge Accident Victim Swims to Safety

A tractor trailer hit a car sending the driver over the guardrail of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. 
(MSHA Bay Bridge camera)

http://wtop.com/41/3394880/Bay-Bridge-crash-victim-swims-to-safety

Woman ejected from Bay Bridge crash swims to safety
Saturday - 7/20/2013, 6:50am  ET
WTOP-TV News Washington DC

Bridges Used by Amtrak Get Poor Rating


Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line, the most heavily traveled rail route in the nation, runs 2,600 trains each day in the areas between Washington and Boston. Each nine-car train weighs about 571 tons.

Amtrak officials insist that the poor annual inspection grades don't necessarily mean a bridge is unsafe.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/crumbling_over_span_of_years_NGtLg1DDk38hxD8ziD6QdM

Crumbling over span of years
Rail bridges' bad marks
By TOM NAMAKO Transit Reporter
New York Post
Last Updated: 5:47 AM, November 27, 2009
Posted: 2:22 AM, November 27, 2009