Dynamo1
Head of the Swing Shift
Thieves steal New York Mayor's car
Oct 19, 8:14 AM (ET)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's car was stolen on Wednesday and his assistant was punched in the face during the carjacking, police said.
Bloomberg was not in the 2001 Lexus, which was stolen while the aide was running an errand in Hackensack, New Jersey, local police said.
About 9 a.m., a woman approached the window of the car and asked Bloomberg's employee for money, Hackensack police said. When he refused, a man opened the car door and began to argue, they said.
"He punches the driver in the face. She reaches into the car and starts grabbing at the driver and at some point ... they wrestle (the driver) out of the car," a Hackensack police spokesman said.
The car was found about two hours later, abandoned by the side of a road in Fair Lawn, N.J. Police said they were still searching for the two suspects.
Police said the employee, who helps look after Bloomberg's personal business, was not seriously injured. Police declined to give his identity but said he was 62 years old.
ETA: Stingray Leaps Into Boat, Stabs Man in Chest
October 19, 2006 Updated: 01:19 PM EDT
Associated Press
LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Florida (Oct. 19) - An 81-year-old man was in critical condition Thursday after a stingray flopped onto his boat and stung him, leaving a foot-long barb in his chest similar to the accident that killed "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.
"It was a freak accident," said Lighthouse Point acting fire Chief David Donzella. "It's very odd that the thing jumped out of the water and stung him. We still can't believe it."
Fatal stingray attacks like the one that killed Irwin last month at the Great Barrier Reef are rare, marine experts say. Rays reflexively deploy a sharp spine in their tails when frightened, but the venom coating the barb usually causes just a painful sting for humans.
James Bertakis of Lighthouse Point was on the water with his granddaughter and a friend Wednesday when a stingray flopped onto the boat and stung Bertakis. The women steered the boat to shore and called emergency services.
Doctors were able to remove the barb during surgeries Wednesday and Thursday by eventually pulling it through his heart and closing the wound, said Dr. Eugene Costantini at Broward General Medical Center.
He said Bertakis' case was different from Irwin's because the barb stayed in Bertakis' heart and was not pulled out. Videotape of Irwin's last moments shows him pulling the barb from his chest.
Bertakis was apparently trying to remove the three-foot-wide spotted eagle ray from the boat when he was stung, police Cmdr. Mike Oh said.
Ellen Pikitch, a professor of marine biology and fisheries at the University of Miami, who has been studying stingrays for decades, said they are generally docile.
"Something like this is really, really extraordinarily rare," she said. "Even when they are under duress, they don't usually attack."
Oct 19, 8:14 AM (ET)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's car was stolen on Wednesday and his assistant was punched in the face during the carjacking, police said.
Bloomberg was not in the 2001 Lexus, which was stolen while the aide was running an errand in Hackensack, New Jersey, local police said.
About 9 a.m., a woman approached the window of the car and asked Bloomberg's employee for money, Hackensack police said. When he refused, a man opened the car door and began to argue, they said.
"He punches the driver in the face. She reaches into the car and starts grabbing at the driver and at some point ... they wrestle (the driver) out of the car," a Hackensack police spokesman said.
The car was found about two hours later, abandoned by the side of a road in Fair Lawn, N.J. Police said they were still searching for the two suspects.
Police said the employee, who helps look after Bloomberg's personal business, was not seriously injured. Police declined to give his identity but said he was 62 years old.
ETA: Stingray Leaps Into Boat, Stabs Man in Chest
October 19, 2006 Updated: 01:19 PM EDT
Associated Press
LIGHTHOUSE POINT, Florida (Oct. 19) - An 81-year-old man was in critical condition Thursday after a stingray flopped onto his boat and stung him, leaving a foot-long barb in his chest similar to the accident that killed "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.
"It was a freak accident," said Lighthouse Point acting fire Chief David Donzella. "It's very odd that the thing jumped out of the water and stung him. We still can't believe it."
Fatal stingray attacks like the one that killed Irwin last month at the Great Barrier Reef are rare, marine experts say. Rays reflexively deploy a sharp spine in their tails when frightened, but the venom coating the barb usually causes just a painful sting for humans.
James Bertakis of Lighthouse Point was on the water with his granddaughter and a friend Wednesday when a stingray flopped onto the boat and stung Bertakis. The women steered the boat to shore and called emergency services.
Doctors were able to remove the barb during surgeries Wednesday and Thursday by eventually pulling it through his heart and closing the wound, said Dr. Eugene Costantini at Broward General Medical Center.
He said Bertakis' case was different from Irwin's because the barb stayed in Bertakis' heart and was not pulled out. Videotape of Irwin's last moments shows him pulling the barb from his chest.
Bertakis was apparently trying to remove the three-foot-wide spotted eagle ray from the boat when he was stung, police Cmdr. Mike Oh said.
Ellen Pikitch, a professor of marine biology and fisheries at the University of Miami, who has been studying stingrays for decades, said they are generally docile.
"Something like this is really, really extraordinarily rare," she said. "Even when they are under duress, they don't usually attack."
