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WEST BRIGHTON, Staten Island (WABC) — A 19-year-old man is facing charges after his 45-year-old stepfather was found stabbed to death on Staten Island.
Damien Hurstel is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Officials say police received a call for a person stabbed at 380 Cary Ave. in the West Brighton section just before 4:30 p.m. Monday.
When officers arrived, they discovered the 45-year-old victim in the bathtub with multiple stab wounds to his head and neck.
The victim was pronounced dead. Police identified him as 45-year-old Anthony Casalaspro.
“This whole world is upside down. This is like a terrible, horrible, to do this to a person you know not even to an animal, you don’t do that,” a neighbor said.
That’s when Hurstel was taken into custody.
Police say the stepson’s sister walked into the home around 4 p.m. and found blood in rooms throughout the home. She then discovered the victim in the bathtub.
According to police sources, the victim wasn’t just stabbed, but decapitated, with the knife still in the body of the victim when police arrived on the scene
They say it’s unclear what led to the violent stabbing. Hurstel has no prior arrests.
Hugh Nembhard told Eyewitness News that he has lived across the street for some 60 years.
“I’m not familiar with the stepson. I never saw him. I saw the father, but never the stepson,” he said. “I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t know what to make of this. This is a shock to me. The neighborhood has changed.”
Police said Hurstel may have a history of mental illness.
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QUEENS, New York (WABC) — Police have arrested a driver they say struck and a killed a 16-year-old girl with his vehicle in Queens on Saturday.
It happened just after 4 a.m. along Benham Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
Investigators say the teen was with a group of people at the location when she got into an argument with a 38-year-old man, the driver of a Chevy Suburban.
Police say he allegedly got into his SUV, jumped the sidewalk and intentionally struck the victim.
The driver then turned down Benham Street and crashed into a parked vehicle.
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NEW YORK (WABC) — Visitors to the nation’s capital this week are seeing armed National Guard troops – 2,200 of them – and while no such order has been given to deploy troops in New York City so far, a big question is whether or not the Trump administration could see a need to do so.
National Guard troops have been deployed, not to high crime areas of Washington, D.C., but instead at national monuments and in train stations.
“They’re armed, capable of defending themselves and others, if need be, supporting law enforcement,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said.
But Commissioner Jessica Tisch says the NYPD doesn’t need that kind of support, telling Attorney General Pam Bondi in a sit-down meeting on Monday that the department can handle the city’s crime, and that gun violence is down so far this year.
Bondi appeared publicly at Brooklyn Federal on Monday before the meeting with Tisch.
According to a source, the two also discussed drones.
The commissioner has made no secret that the NYPD would like the authority to take down drones suspected in criminal activity, authority only the federal government currently has.
The Trump administration is now flexing the federal muscle of the National Guard or considering it in other major cities.
Violent crime is also down in Chicago in the last four years, and the governor of Illinois says National Guard troops aren’t needed.
“This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said.
The cities with the highest violent crime rates are in red states: St. Louis and New Orleans. They have Democratic mayors, but are in states with Republican governors, and it’s governors that can decide whether to deploy National Guard troops.
On Monday, ABC News’ Rachel Scott asked the president if he would consider sending them to cities with high crime in red states.
“Sure. But there aren’t that many of them. If you look at the top 25 cities for crime, just about every one of those cities is run by Democrats,” President Donald Trump said.
President Trump also signed an order on Monday that would strip federal funding from states and cities that use cashless bail. That also involves Attorney General Bondi, who will have 30 days to create a list of jurisdictions that have eliminated it.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statement on Monday, calling it reckless to withhold federal funds, saying it would only undercut law enforcement and make communities less safe.
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MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) — Police are investigating after a cyclist was struck by a stolen cab in Manhattan on Thursday, according to police sources.
They say a cab driver got out of his Toyota RAV4 and left the engine running as he went to grab food around 9:15 p.m.
That’s when a male suspect got into the cab and struck a cyclist near Second Avenue and East 33rd Street as he fled from the scene.
The cyclist refused medical attention and the vehicle was recovered near East 35th Street and Park Avenue.
There are no arrests, and the investigation remains ongoing.
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Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
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FORDHAM, The Bronx (WABC) — A 20-year-old man is in custody after a shooting left a child shot in the Bronx on Saturday.
Freddy Flores of the Bronx is charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, and reckless endangerment.
Shots rang out around 2 p.m. Saturday after officials say the man was in a fight with someone and opened fire from across the street, pulling the trigger five times on a .9mm handgun.
They say he did not hit his target, but a two-year-old boy, who was walking with his mom near the area, was struck in the hip with a bullet.
The toddler was taken to Jacobi Hospital in stable condition.
He celebrated his third birthday in the hospital.
Flores was caught by a fugitive task force, as he was checking into criminal court in Manhattan on a grand larceny case from more than a year ago.
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WOODSIDE, Queens (WABC) — Four people were stabbed by a neighbor at an apartment building in Queens.
It happened Saturday around 12:30 p.m. at the building on 54th Street in Woodside.
Police originally reported a 69-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man were stabbed – then later said a 35-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were also stabbed.
Police took the suspect into custody at the scene.
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MTA CEO Janno Lieber and NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper briefed the public Friday morning on the latest details from Thursday’s attack.
New details have emerged out of the terrifying shooting on a Brooklyn subway.
As a 32-year-old man boarded the train, he was approached by a 36-year-old, who was already on the train, and a dispute ensued.
Officials revealed that cellphone video from the shooting shows a woman was also involved.
“There was a female that was on the train, apparently with the 32-year-old. it looks like on that video. it captures her involvement in the incident also. It looks like she had a sharp object and cut the 36-year-old male with that sharp object,” Kemper said.
The woman appeared to stab the victim in the lower back.
Authorities say that after he was stabbed, the 36-year-old man asked “Did you stab me?” He pulled a gun from his jacket and asked again, “You stabbed me, right?”
The 32-year-old man was able to grab the gun and strike the other man in the head.
Cellphone video captured the dispute between the two men, and the frantic moments as passengers scrambled to safety when the shots rang out. One woman can be heard screaming, “Let me out, let me out!”
Raw video of the dispute that led to a stabbing and shooting on a NYC subway train in Brooklyn
“As I’m coming out, you hear pops like three or four shots. Pop, pop, pop. Then the doors open. Everybody come flying out,” one commuter said.
“I don’t think I was going to make it back home. I was next to everything like just like you are in front of me. That’s where I was,” another commuter recalled.
The train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, where officers heard the shots and flooded the crime scene.
The 36-year-old was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
Authorities say a gun was recovered at the scene. Lieber says there is no place for guns on trains.
“I’m here today to thank the officers who intervened and responded so quickly,” Lieber said Friday. “As people were rushing up the stairs, they rushed down the stairs and made an immediate apprehension. That’s bravery, that’s courage.”
Lieber also thanked Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams. He says their commitment to rider safety, crime deterrence, and crime prevention is paramount.
“Transit crime is 2% of the crime in the city of New York, but it has a huge disproportionate impact on people’s sense of safety.”
Officials say the 32-year-old who fired the weapon in Thursday’s attack is in custody with charges pending.
Adams spoke about the incident Friday morning, and how police and other safety resources are important underground.
“A person with severe mental health illness, what appears to be severe mental health illness, got engaged in a very violent way. The investigation is going to take its course,” Adams said.
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LOWER MANHATTAN, New York (WABC) — Police are investigating after a woman was struck by a random object while standing on a subway platform in Lower Manhattan Friday.
A 31-year-old victim was standing on the northbound No. 1 train platform inside the World Trade Center Cortlandt station around 7:15 p.m. when a suspect, riding a northbound train, threw an unknown object at her.
That object struck the victim in the leg, leaving her injured.
The victim was taken to NY-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital where she’s expected to survive.
The male suspect fled on the northbound No. 1 train.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.
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A suspect escaped NYPD custody by slipping out a side door of Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, cops said Sunday.
Police are asking the public’s help finding Christopher Miller, 23, after he fled the Kips Bay hospital about 3:50 a.m. Saturday. Miller had been busted on a warrant, though cops couldn’t say Sunday what crime the warrant is connected to.
NYPD/DCPI
Police are asking the public’s help to find Christopher Miller, 23, after he fled Bellevue Hospital about 3:50 a.m. Saturday.
Cops released a surveillance image of Miller Sunday. He’s described as 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds with black hair. He was wearing a gray sweatsuit and carrying a black cane when he slipped away.
Miller lives in Harlem, according to cops.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
Police department officials say 14 people, believed to be asylum seekers staying in city shelters were involved in the assault.
Authorities have arrested and charged six – five were released without bail.
DA Bragg says his office ‘will not rest until every person who assaulted a police officer in this awful attack is held accountable.’
The incident prompted growing concern from the New York Immigration Coalition that a few bad apples would put a target on the greater asylum-seeking population.
“I think that we have to really highlight that these are isolated incidents,” said Robert Agyemang, Vice President of the New York Immigration Coalition. “It feeds into kind of the belief system that these people are coming and they’re messing up things when it’s not really the case.”
According to data from the mayor’s office, there were fewer migrants in the city’s care since last week.
On January 7, 2024, the city reported 69,000 migrants in their care, as opposed to 67,500 on January 23. Meaning that migrants are leaving the city’s care faster than they are coming in.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, and on Twitter @NYPDTips.
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A minivan driver has been charged with DWI and manslaughter for crashing into a 68-year-old pedestrian crossing a Brooklyn street, police said Thursday.
Gary Turner, 47, was heading west on Glenwood Road when he slammed into Luis Garcia in the crosswalk at E. 105th St. in Canarsie about 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, cops said.
Turner remained at the scene and was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and DWI, cops said. He was driving a white 2017 Dodge Caravan and was about a mile from home when he crashed, according to police.
The victim was dragged about 50 feet before Turner came to a stop, witnesses said.
A nearby store manager described the panic that ensued.
NYPD Highway Patrol cops investigate after a pedestrian was fatally struck at Glenwood Road and E. 105th St. in Brooklyn Wednesday. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
“Everyone was going crazy. People were screaming, ‘He’s dead,’” said Mike Kasm, 44. “I ran back in and called 911 immediately.”
Garcia was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital but could not be saved. He lived in South Slope, according to cops.
A Brooklyn gunman accused of wounding two NYPD cops after bashing his mother is a muscle-bound ex-con who rebranded himself as a community do-gooder fitness guru after his release from prison, the Daily News has learned.
After being paroled for an attempted assault and robbery conviction, Melvin Butler, 39, changed his name to Gym Star and gave free fitness classes in his Brownsville neighborhood.
The scene where two NYPD officers responding to a domestic violence call were shot on Bergen St. near Saratoga Ave. in Brownsville Brooklyn NY on Jan. 16, 2024. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
Butler resisted arrest and a “violent struggle” broke out, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a news conference Tuesday.
As the officers brawled with Butler on the ground, he grabbed a gun from one of the cops and pulled the trigger, striking one officer in the hand and the other in the thigh, police said.
“He has my gun!” one of the officers’ yelled, according to body-worn camera footage reviewed by the NYPD.
One of the officers returned fire, hitting Butler in the stomach and leg.
Butler remained hospitalized Wednesday, cops said. Criminal charges were pending against him.
An NYPD Force Investigation Unit van on Saratoga Ave. at Bergen St. in Brooklyn on Tuesday night after two cops were shot. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
He also ran a “mobile outreach vehicle” that sold freshly made juice drinks and made a video about it.
His efforts were lauded on News 12 Brooklyn. In that interview, Butler explained he changed his name to Gym Star “after doing 12 1/2 years in prison for a robbery I didn’t commit.”
Police said Butler was arrested for attempted murder in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in 2004 but was ultimately convicted of attempted assault and robbery two years later.
He was released in 2017 and remained on parole until 2020, according to state Department of Corrections records.
“Gym” stands for “Great Young Minds,” he told News 12, explaining how he hoped to empower the youth in his community through fitness.
“I just knew that I didn’t want to be forgotten,” Butler explained when asked why he changed his name. “Something that is so positive that no one would ever forget about me ever.”
“People still slam the door in my face to this day, but I’m still knocking,” he added. “As soon as they open the door, I’m putting my foot in the door.”
Police from the 73rd Precinct on Bergen St. where two cops were shot on Tuesday. (Sam Costanza for New York Daily News)
Since 2021, cops have been called to his home six times to diffuse domestic disputes, police sources said. Many of the fights were with his mother.
“It’s always an argument between mother and her son,” neighbor Nova Fuller told the Daily News Tuesday.
Just before the shooting, Butler screamed, ‘”Remember what you said to me yesterday? I am not going back to jail!” Fuller recalled.
Butler was arrested twice last year, one for misdemeanor assault connected to a domestic violence incident.
He was wearing an ankle monitor during Tuesday’s shooting, police sources said.
The shot cops were taken to Kings County Hospital, where they were treated and released. One of the wounded officers has been with the NYPD for more than nine years and the other has been with the department for 16 years.
“Because of the swift actions of the two police officers who were involved and the responding officers, those officers will be going home,” Mayor Adams said Tuesday.
Two men were hospitalized early Friday when a gunman opened fire on the door to their Brooklyn apartment, police said.
The victims, ages 35 and 36, were inside their Montgomery St. apartment near Schenectady Ave. in Crown Heights at about 1:10 a.m. when a Black man in a white hoodie started shooting into the apartment from the hallway through the closed door, cops said.
The younger victim was shot in the left hip, cops said. The older man was hit in the right arm.
EMS rushed both men to Kings County Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries.
The gunman ran off and was last seen running west on Montgomery Ave. near Troy Ave.
Jonathan Majors’ ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari broke down on the witness stand in Manhattan Thursday, after the Marvel actor’s lawyer made her repeatedly watch video of herself disoriented and injured from the morning after she says he assaulted her.
Jabbari, 30, lost her composure during her third day of testimony at Majors’ Manhattan Criminal Court domestic violence trial, as she was grilled on exactly what she told police when they found her in the closet of Majors’ penthouse apartment in Chelsea.
“I really don’t want to watch that video,” Jabbari said, as defense lawyer Priya Chaudhry made her wear a pair of headphones and repeatedly watch on a laptop body camera footage showing her answering the responding NYPD officers’ questions.
Majors, who has been cast as the villain Kang the Conqueror in a number Marvel movies and the TV show “Loki,” has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault and harassment.
Jabbari alleges the “Lovecraft Country” actor became aggressive when she grabbed his phone in the actor’s private car after seeing him get a text from another woman, twisted her arm behind her back and struck her, resulting in a fractured right middle finger and a nasty cut behind her right ear.
Majors, 34, contends that he’s the victim and that Jabbari is unstable and lying about what happened.
Chaudhry brought up the body camera footage in an attempt to whittle away at Jabbari’s credibility, asking her if she remembered the moments she told officers that she didn’t know how her finger was hurt, or that she didn’t know if she had fallen down.
Actor Jonathan Majors arrives at court for his domestic abuse trial, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
At one point, Jabbari broke down sobbing and was allowed to leave the witness stand, but Chaudhry persisted, making her watch the footage whenever she couldn’t recall what she said.
She was also made to watch video showing Majors shoving her into the private car early March 25 in lower Manhattan, as Chaudhry challenged her on whether she was facing him or away from him.
“I just don’t want to watch it again if that’s OK,” Jabbari said before muttering, “This is going to make me sick.”
Earlier in the day, Chaudhry went minute-by-minute through Jabbari’s actions after the alleged assault, including how the British choreographer went out drinking with three strangers she met on the street while running away from Majors.
“I was feeling pain everywhere but I was choosing to ignore it, to get myself into a happier spot,” Jabbari said as Chaudhry asked her about her dancing in Loosie’s Nightclub in lower Manhattan. “I wasn’t focusing on the pain. I was just trying to have a nice time.”
Chaudhry confronted Jabbari with video footage from inside the nightclub, pointing out the moments where she pulled her hair back or brushed it near her ear, grabbed a glass of champagne, did a shot of tequila and sucked on a lime with her right hand, or hugged “Chloe,” one of the three people she went to the club with.
“And you just took the champagne in your right hand?” the lawyer asked, with Jabbari responding, “Yes.”
“And then proceeded to the dance floor?” Chaudhry asked. “Yes,” Jabbari responded.
“And brushed your hair back one more time?”
“Yes.”
Chaudhry also pointed out Jabbari’s repeated texts after Majors’ arrest where she said she didn’t want him charged.
“Please let me know you’re OK when you get this. They assured me that you won’t be charged,” she said, later texting him to say, “I’m so angry that they did and I’m sorry you’re in this position. Will make sure nothing happens about this… I told them it was my fault for trying to grab your phone.”
A 7-year-old boy walking with his mother in Brooklyn was fatally struck by an NYPD tow truck driver Thursday morning, cops said.
The boy died at the scene after being struck near Myrtle Ave. and N. Portland Ave. just outside Fort Greene Park about 7:50 a.m. His name was not immediately released.
The 54-year-old tow truck driver was making a legal left turn with a car on the winch when she struck the child, police said. She remained at the scene and faced no immediate charges.
