new-york

Here's Audio of What Sounds Like an NYPD Captain Pressuring an Officer to Target Black Men

Andy Cush · 07/13/16 12:20PM

When NYPD officer Michael Birch was summoned into a performance evaluation meeting with his commanding officer and a lieutenant one day in August 2012, he was expecting to hear more of what he’d heard in the past about the way he did his job: that he wasn’t generating enough “activity.” As an officer in the transit bureau, he says, that meant being told to issue more summonses for fare evasion, and arresting more people for stealing fellow straphangers’ cell phones.

Victims' Half-Sister Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Word of Life Church Beating

Brendan O'Connor · 07/05/16 05:55PM

On Tuesday, a judge found Sarah Ferguson not guilty of second-degree murder, but guilty of first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault, and first-degree gang assault for her role in a mass beating that left her 19-year-old half-brother Lucas Leonard dead and her 17-year-old half-brother Christopher Leonard severely injured.

Father of Boy Killed in Church Beating Cites Scripture: "Blows That Hurt Drive Off Evil"

Brendan O'Connor · 06/30/16 02:45PM

The father of two boys beaten and whipped in a group counseling session last year testified on Wednesday that his sons were attacked by members of their church because they had been suspected of sexually molesting their sister and their half-sister’s children. “Blows that hurt drive off evil,” Bruce Leonard told the court, by way of explanation.

Surviving Brother in Brutal Church Beating Admits to Molesting Half-Sister's Children

Brendan O'Connor · 06/27/16 01:55PM

The murder trial of Sarah Ferguson began in Utica, New York, last week. Ferguson is accused of participating in a group counseling session at the Word of Life Church that left her 19-year-old half-brother Lucas Leonard dead and her other half-brother, Christopher, mutilated. Prosecutors said the beatings began when Tiffanie Irwin, the church pastor, allegedly accused the boys of using witchcraft, making a voodoo doll of the pastor, and sexually abusing their siblings and nieces.

Ted Cruz Managed to Win One Brooklyn Precinct By Getting Just a Single Vote

Andy Cush · 04/21/16 08:10AM

Poor, sweet, sagging Ted Cruz. The man who can barely get members of his own party to listen to him when he speaks in New York got thoroughly trounced by Donald Trump and John Kasich on Tuesday. Cruz’s showing was so bad in one part of Brooklyn that he only netted one single vote. Oh, wait—hold on just a second—it looks like Cruz actually won that precinct.