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UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — More than a year after the October 7 attacks on Israel, the family of one hostage is reminding community members about their son, who is having his second birthday in captivity.
Friends and family members came to show their support for Long Island native Omer Neutra at a community basketball game on Sunday.
“We’re exhausted, absolutely. This has been a roller coaster of a year between hope and despair, and right now, negotiations are at a standstill,” said Omer’s mother, Orna Neutra.
The family last spoke to their son, who is in the Israeli military, just a day before Hamas attacked, claiming 1,200 lives and taking 240 hostages, including Omer.
“We’re hoping he’s okay, and I mean, there’s a good chance he doesn’t even know what day it is. He doesn’t know that it’s his birthday or if it is his birthday,” said Daniel Neutra, Omer’s brother.
Omer’s family refuses to give up hope and continues to cling to their belief in miracles.
They have been working tirelessly to get their son released, talking to officials in Washington and Israel, and also leaders in the Middle East.
“He was 21 when he was taken captive. Right, it’s heartbreaking, it’s devastating. And it’s unfathomable that a 22-year-old is spending his time in the tunnels underneath Gaza for such a long time,” Orna said.
According to his family, Omer loves basketball and wore the number “24” because he idolized Kobe Bryant and was a big Knicks fan. Despite living in Israel, Omer rarely missed watching a Knicks game.
“And we were four years ago and we watched the NBA Finals always together. Whether we were together physically or apart across the ocean, we always watched NBA finals together,” said Ronen Nuetra, Omer’s father.
Omer’s basketball teammates here at home say they are in disbelief as they wait for updates about him. One teammate, Ari Kantorowitz, says Omer was always the joyous spirit of their group, even when they were bad.
“He was our heart. He was the guy that was fighting for all of us that maybe weren’t as tough. He always brought like the hope that we could win,” Kantorowitz said.
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NEW YORK — Donald Trump is returning to New York in the race’s final stretch, scheduling a rally at the city’s iconic Madison Square Garden.
Trump is planning his event for Oct. 27 to kick off the final week of campaigning, according to a campaign official familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
It will be Trump’s second rally in the city he grew up in following a May stop in the South Bronx that drew a large and diverse crowd. He held another on Long Island last month.
“We have some very big ones coming. We just rented Madison Square Garden. We’re going to make a play for New York,” Trump said at a rally Wednesday afternoon in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
He said his campaign is also looking to rent arenas in Atlanta, Georgia and New Jersey.
Trump has long said he believes that he can win New York, even though it is overwhelmingly Democratic and he has lost the state in the last two elections by more than 20 percentage points. But Trump also relishes staging events that will draw outsized media attention, like one held at the so-called World’s Most Famous Arena.
In between stops to critical battleground states like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Trump will be traveling this week to states that aren’t seen as competitive.
On Friday, he will visit Aurora, Colorado, a town that has become a flashpoint in the debate over the influx of migrants who have entered the country in recent years. Democrat Joe Biden won Colorado in 2020 with 55% of the vote.
This summer, Aurora’s mayor repeated a landlord’s claim that a notorious Venezuelan gang had taken over a rundown apartment complex in the Denver suburb, even though police have said that isn’t true.
Trump and other Republicans have nonetheless seized on the claims, with Trump saying during a Fox News town hall that Venezuelans were “taking over the whole town” and telling rallygoers that, if elected, he will deploy federal resources to “liberate” the town.
On Saturday, he will hold a rally in Coachella, California, the site of a major annual outdoor music festival. Trump lost California in the last two elections by about 30 percentage points.
Trump said at his rally that in addition to New York, he is making a play for other Democratic leaning states including New Jersey, Virginia, New Mexico and Minnesota.
NEW YORK (WABC) — First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright has resigned Tuesday, and is expected to be replaced by Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Work Force Maria Torres-Springer, who has decades of government experience.
The announcement is expected to be made by Mayor Eric Adams at his weekly briefing later Tuesday morning.
Wright could serve for the rest of the month.
“We are grateful for First Deputy Mayor Wright’s years of service to the city and all she has done to deliver for children, families, and working-class New Yorkers. She is an exceptional leader who assembled a strong team and constantly demonstrated a bold vision for this city,” Adams said in a statement.
Wright has served in the administration since January 2022 and moved into her current role in January of 2023. She worked alongside the mayor very closely on a number of initiatives.
FILE – Mayor Eric Adams, right, is flanked by deputy mayor Sheena Wright, left, during a press conference at City Hall in New York, Dec. 12, 2023.
AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File
Last month, federal investigators seized her phones and searched her home — along with several other officials who have since resigned.
The announcement that Wright is stepping down comes after her brother-in-law, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks, announced his resignation Monday.
Joining the deputy mayor leaving Monday were Winne Greco, Rana Abbasova and Mohammed Bahi.
Greco and Bahi resigned, and Abbasova was terminated. All three served as community liaisons for the administration.
Other notable names to step down from their roles previously include former police commissioner Edward Caban, outgoing school chancellor David Banks, health commissioner Ashwin Vasan, advisor to the mayor Tim Pearson, and legal advisor Lisa Zornberg.
“This comes directly from Governor Hochul. She said to clean house. She wants to see changes and that’s what she’s seeing right now,” he said.
Meanwhile, David Birdsell, Kean University Provost, said many people are under the assumption that the corruption within the administration is being carried out by people with key roles.
“It looks like, right now, that administration is losing its most senior officials. At least many people believe because there is some corruption at the heart of the administration,” Birdsell said.
It all comes as the Mayor continues to reassure residents across New York City that he can govern while defending himself against the federal government.
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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — A judge ruled that all evidence will be permitted in the trial against Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged with putting Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold on the subway last year.
Penny returned to court for the second straight day on Friday for a pre-trial hearing.
The purpose of the hearing was to sort out what evidence will be presented at trial — including new video of what happened after the incident.
Judge Maxwell Wiley on Friday denied all motions to suppress evidence.
Penny, 25, is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the murder of Jordan Neely on board an F train in May of last year after the deadly chokehold was captured on cellphone video by two tourists.
Penny’s lawyers say he acted in self-defense after Neely, who suffered from mental health issues, started displaying what some described as aggressive behavior.
Penny’s lawyers say Neely had a psychiatric history of mental illness, didn’t take his medicine, and was known to scare passengers.
During Thursday’s pre-trial hearing, the court heard evidence from both sides.
The cellphone video from the incident went viral and was widely seen — but the other video evidence the jury might see in the trial could make or break the case for both the prosecution and defense.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office played video of Penny being interviewed by NYPD detectives at the 5th Precinct in Chinatown.
Throughout the video he was calm, and matter of fact, as he explained what happened. He can be heard saying, “I’m not trying to kill the guy, I’m just trying to deescalate the situation.”
The two detectives clearly tried to get a better grasp of the incident and asked what he was thinking.
“This guy was actually threatening. He said he wanted to go to prison forever,” Penny said in the interview.
During the videotaped interview, Penny went over what happened several times and twice demonstrated the grip he had around Neely’s neck and explained his decision to wrap his legs around him saying, “He starts to squirm, I hold him a little tighter.”
Prosecutors also showed several body-worn cameras from the responding officers. In the video, Penny is standing around and at one point he was asked if Neely had a gun and he responded, “I don’t know, I just put him out.”
The Manhattan District Attorney wants the jury to see the videos to hear Penny’s initial comments, but his defense said he was being treated as a witness at the time and they wanted them out.
The trial is scheduled to begin October 8 and jury selection starts on Oct. 21. If convicted, Penny faces up to 20 years in prison.
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ELIZABETH, New Jersey (WABC) — A strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) is on the table – and with a deadline of October 1, there is no word on exactly how close or how far apart both sides are.
The potential economic implications of a strike along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast are massive as at least 50,000 dockworkers threaten to walk off the job just after midnight on Tuesday.
The ILA claims wages have remained flat while the profits of carriers have skyrocketed. The union is demanding higher hourly wages over the course of a new contract – along with a ban on automated cranes, gates and trucks.
“We have to fight for what we rightfully deserve – let’s get a contract, and let’s move on with the world,” said ILA President Harold J. Daggett.
On the other side the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which says it is committed to negotiating, claims the union is not bargaining in good faith.
If both sides remain deadlocked, operations could grind to a halt at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, and several more of the nation’s highest-grossing ports.
Any resulting supply chain disruptions could wreak havoc on the U.S. economy.
The East Coast and Gulf Coast ports account for more than half of U.S. container imports. Should a disruption last weeks, there will be major supply chain challenges, driving up prices for things like produce, seafood, pharmaceuticals, electronics and cars.
“It’s estimated that a strike would cost somewhere around $5 billion a day. That would be the economic impact, So it’s substantive, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to get to the table, and you know, come to the middle,” said University of Houston Supply Chain and Logistics Technology Program Director Margarett Kidd.
It is important to note that a strike could also impact Puerto Rico. That is because 85 percent of the island’s food supply comes from the mainland United States. 90 percent of those shipments come through ILA-staffed ports.
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Credit: Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Christian Wade (The Center Square)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations stemming from an investigation spanning nearly a decade.
The indictment, unsealed on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams’ office, includes five charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals; wire fraud; solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national; solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national and bribery.
Williams said prosecutors allege in the indictment that Adams sought and accepted more than $10 million in illegal ‘straw’ contributions for his 2021 mayoral bid that were traced to Turkey.
“Mayor Adams took these contributions even though he knew they were illegal, even though he knew these contributions were an attempt by a Turkish government official and Turkish businessman to buy influence with him,” Williams said at a press briefing on Thursday. “The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual financial disclosure forms so that the public could see who is giving him what.”
Federal prosecutors also allege in the indictment that Adams “sought and accepted improper valuable benefits” since at least 2014, when he was then the Brooklyn borough president. They say Adams also benefited from more than $100,000 in gifts from the Turkish government, including free travel to Turkey, meals and hotel rooms, and created “fake paper trails” to hide the gifts or make them appear as if he hadn’t paid for them.
In exchange, Adams, as mayor, pressured the New York Fire Department to open a new Turkish consular building in Manhattan despite not passing a fire safety inspection. Prosecutors said an FDNY official was threatened with being fired if he didn’t follow the mayor’s directive.
“As Adams’ prominence and power grew, his foreign-national benefactors sought to cash in on their corrupt relationships with him, particularly when, in 2021, it became clear that Adams would become New York City’s mayor,” prosecutors wrote in the 57-page indictment. “Adams agreed, providing favorable treatment in exchange for the illicit benefits he received.”
The indictment, the first of a New York City mayor in its history, is a dramatic fall from grace for the mayor of America’s largest city who was once considered a rising star in the Democratic Party.
At a press conference earlier Thursday morning, Adams denied any wrongdoing and claimed federal investigators are demonizing him. He urged New Yorkers not to rush to judgment on his indictment.
“I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense,” Adams said at the briefing as hecklers shouted for him to resign. “Everyone who knows me knows that I follow the campaign rules and I follow the law.”
Adams, 64, was elected to lead the nation’s most populous city nearly three years ago, pledging to reduce crime and guide the city out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the news of federal investigations surfaced last year after federal authorities searched the home of Adams’ chief fundraiser, Brianna Suggs, and temporarily seized Adams’ electronic devices.
The swirl of probes has prompted the resignations of Ed Caban, Commissioner of the New York Police Department, and the city’s health commissioner and the city’s school chancellor, David Banks, whose brother, Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, and fiancée Sheena Wright, who serves as a deputy mayor as well were among City Hall officials to have devices seized as part of the investigations.
In recent weeks, calls have mounted for Adams to resign, including from New York Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and state Sen. John Liu, D-Queens.
If Adams resigned, New York City’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, would take over as acting mayor. He would then schedule a special election for a new mayor, which could take place within 90 days.
Broadcasting and Cable inducted George Stephanopoulos, Dick Vitale and Debra O’Connell into its hall of fame on Thursday.
NEW YORK CITY — It was a special night Thursday in Manhattan, where some of the leaders in the broadcasting industry were honored.
Broadcasting and Cable inducted new members into its hall of fame.
ABC’s Deborah Roberts was one of the hosts.
Among the honorees were ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, ESPN’s Dick Vitale and Debra O’Connell, the president of news group and networks for the Walt Disney Company.
O’Connell has risen up through the company, and was also the general manager at WABC for a time.
Broadcasting and Cable has inducted more than 400 honorees into its hall of fame over the years.
EAST VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) — Police have released surveillance video of the suspect wanted for stabbing a man in the back at a Manhattan subway station.
The attack happened around 8:45 p.m. on Friday at the L train station at East 14th Street and First Avenue.
According to the NYPD, a 29-year-old man was walking down the stairs at the station when he bumped into the suspect. Officials say the two got into an argument before the suspect stabbed the man in the back with a knife and fled the scene.
First responders transported the victim to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Police say the suspect is a man last seen wearing all black and a white hat.
Anyone with information about the stabbing is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
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NEW YORK — New York state reported its first case of eastern equine encephalitis in nearly a decade on Friday.
The rare mosquito-borne virus was detected in Ulster County, the New York State Department of Health said. The individual is hospitalized, it said.
The Ulster County Department of Health is currently investigating the case, which marks the first case of EEE confirmed in New York state since 2015, health officials said.
“Eastern equine encephalitis is a serious and fatal mosquito-borne disease with no vaccine,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement. “Even though temperatures are getting cooler, mosquito-borne illnesses are still a risk and New Yorkers must be cautious.”
The human case comes after a case of EEE was confirmed in a horse in Ulster County in August, the state health department said. Earlier this month, two emus in New York’s Rensselaer County also tested positive for the virus, which does not spread directly from birds to humans, the department said.
The latest human EEE case in New York brings the national tally to at least 11 so far this year, according to an ABC News tally. The national yearly average is 11, with most cases occurring in eastern or Gulf Coast states.
Beyond New York, cases have been reported in at least six other states so far this year: Massachusetts, with four; New Hampshire, with two; and, with one each, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Between 2003 and 2023, there have been at least 196 EEE cases reported in the U.S., including 176 hospitalizations and 79 deaths.
The best way to prevent infection from the disease is to protect yourself from mosquito bites, including by using insect repellant, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, treating clothing and gear and taking steps to control mosquitoes indoors and outdoors.
“With the first confirmed human case of eastern equine encephalitis in Ulster County, I urge residents to take the recommended precautions to prevent mosquito bites and the risk of infection,” Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said in a statement.
Most people infected with EEE do not develop symptoms. For those who do, symptoms can include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, behavioral changes and drowsiness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Approximately a third of all people who develop severe cases die, according to the CDC.
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NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein appeared on Wednesday in a New York courtroom and pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal sex act in the 1st degree after he was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month.
This is a developing story. Below is previous coverage.
Harvey Weinstein arrived at a courtroom Wednesday in Manhattan where he is expected to be arraigned on a new indictment charging him with up to three additional sex offenses, his lawyer said.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said the jailed ex-movie mogul will appear in court in person to face his latest legal hurdle after he was excused from a hearing last week while recovering from emergency heart surgery.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office disclosed at the Sept. 12 hearing last week that a grand jury had returned a new indictment charging Weinstein with previously uncharged offenses.
The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned. Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults: in the mid-2000s at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and a Lower Manhattan residential building, and, in May 2016, at a Tribeca hotel.
At the same time, Weinstein is awaiting retrial in his landmark #MeToo case after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year.
Weinstein’s retrial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12. Prosecutors have said they’ll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.
Aidala noted last week that because the indictment remains under seal, it’s not clear whether the new charges involve some or all of the additional allegations heard by the grand jury.
“We don’t know anything,” he said outside court last week. “We don’t know what the exact accusations are, the exact locations are, what the timing is.”
Weinstein has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
He has been at a Manhattan hospital following emergency surgery Sept. 9 to drain fluid around his heart and lungs.
A judge ruled last week to allow Weinstein, 72, to remain indefinitely in the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex.
In vacating Weinstein’s conviction and ordering a new trial, New York’s Court of Appeals ruled in April that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.
Once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, Weinstein co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company and produced films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Crying Game.”
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan on a new indictment charging him with up to three additional sex offenses, his lawyer said.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said the jailed ex-movie mogul will appear in court in person to face his latest legal hurdle after he was excused from a hearing last week while recovering from emergency heart surgery.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office disclosed at the Sept. 12 hearing last week that a grand jury had returned a new indictment charging Weinstein with previously uncharged offenses.
The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned. Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults: in the mid-2000s at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and a Lower Manhattan residential building, and, in May 2016, at a Tribeca hotel.
At the same time, Weinstein is awaiting retrial in his landmark #MeToo case after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year.
Weinstein’s retrial is scheduled to begin Nov. 12. Prosecutors have said they’ll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.
Aidala noted last week that because the indictment remains under seal, it’s not clear whether the new charges involve some or all of the additional allegations heard by the grand jury.
“We don’t know anything,” he said outside court last week. “We don’t know what the exact accusations are, the exact locations are, what the timing is.”
Weinstein has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
He has been at a Manhattan hospital following emergency surgery Sept. 9 to drain fluid around his heart and lungs.
A judge ruled last week to allow Weinstein, 72, to remain indefinitely in the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex.
In vacating Weinstein’s conviction and ordering a new trial, New York’s Court of Appeals ruled in April that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.
Once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, Weinstein co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company and produced films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Crying Game.”
FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) — Tensions boiled after officers fatally shot a man inside his East 21st Street apartment in Flatbush on Friday evening.
One officer was struck in the head after bottles were hurled at them.
Police sauy they were serving a warrant on a suspect wanted for multiple homicides after being tipped off about his whereabouts.
Investigators say officers were allowed into the apartment, and that is when they saw Vilmond Jean Baptiste, 38, hiding in the bathtub, fully dressed with his knife.
“The members from the warrant squad gave numerous commands to the male. They gave commands to get out of the tub, to show his hands, and then they realized that he was armed with a knife and then they gave him numerous commands to drop the knife,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
The sergeant tried to deploy his taser, but the taser did not work. That is when the suspect came out of the bathroom with a knife and almost attempted to stab the sergeant.
Police officials say at least three officers discharged their firearms, striking Baptiste.
They say Baptiste is a strong person of interest in two separate homicides that resulted in the death of three people, including a stabbing in July where a 54-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were both stabbed to death. Investigators say he is also the suspect in the fatal stabbing of a 66-year-old in Flatlands back in August.
“His M.O. seems to be he begins to date older women and then they allow him to reside in his house to use narcotics. The relationship was romantic in nature,” said NYPD Chief Kenney.
That victim was identified as Claudette Jones. She was found with multiple stab wounds inside her kitchen.
HOWARD BEACH, Queens (WABC) — They are making good on a promise they made more than two decades ago – to never forget.
Dorie’s son, Richard Allen Pearlman helped a woman after terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers. On September 11, 2001, the 18-year-old volunteer EMT rushed into the building twice – but did not make it out alive.
“It turned my whole life upside-down. At the same time, my mother was in the hospital dying of cancer. My mother and son died three and a half weeks apart. So where do you run? Look for your son, or stay with your mother?” said Dorie. The Pearlman family was in Howard Beach with many others, honoring those who died and survived the attacks.
Eyewitness News will have live coverage of the remembrance of the victims. Bill Ritter will once again anchor our coverage on Channel 7 and streaming on all of our ABC7NY platforms beginning at 8:25 a.m.
The Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic organizes the tribute. Phyllis Inserillo has been instrumental in it.
“I was teaching preschool at the time and I just remember one of the little boys I taught looking at the news we put on to see what was happening, he said ‘my mom is in those towers but thankfully she came home,’” Inserillo said.
Retired firefighters John Morabito and Jay Frango got the call and responded to the disaster. “We lost more firefighters from illnesses than we lost on September 11 itself, so it’s a reminder for us that we have to keep going to funerals,” Morabito said.
Wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the attacks – the moment Dorie was shaken to her core.
“They got away with murder – literally, murder,” she said.
The second there was a seismic shift in the world – as we all knew it – would never be the same.
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SOHO, Manhattan (WABC) — Lauren Porcelli and her friend Nicole Vawter huddled with other customers in the back of Zara in SoHo – their day of shopping on Saturday turned into a day of panic.
“She locked eyes with someone who said that he had a gun. So the next thing we know, we’re getting trampled and pushed into the back corner of the room,” Porcelli said.
First responders rushed to the store on Broadway just after 3 p.m. as customers inside the store thought the worst.
“It was scary, and I feel like with all the incidents that have happened with guns I the past couple months and years – you don’t question it,” added Vawter.
Police say there was no active shooter, but customers would later find out a store security guard was hit in the head with a bottle. He was removed from the store, bleeding on a stretcher.
Police sources say the guard confronted two men who he thought were stealing. They came back and hit him over the head.
By nighttime, customers showed up early, only to find out the store had closed early due to the chaos. It was chaos that Porcelli and Vawter knew could have been a lot worse – and often is.
Store employees say they decided to close early Saturday out of an abundance of caution and because of the toll the dramatic ordeal took on employees. They plan to open for business as usual on Sunday.
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WHITESTONE, Queens (WABC) — Two teens who were riding a moped were killed in a crash on the Cross Island Parkway in Queens early Saturday.
Police say the accident happened in the southbound lanes near 150th Street in Whitestone.
The victims were discovered separately. Officers say they found a 19-year-old woman at the scene of the crash around 2:30 a.m., where she was pronounced dead. About 15 minutes after finding her, the NYPD received a report of a young man walking into Flushing Hospital with injuries from the same accident. The victim, a 15-year-old boy, died a short time later.
Early findings in the police investigation reveal that the moped had backend damage. Police are working to determine whether they were struck by another vehicle.
The relationship between the two victims is unclear at the moment.
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CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) — The New York Caribbean Carnival, one of the city’s biggest summer festivals, culminates with a parade and celebration streamed live on ABC7 New York on Labor Day, Sept. 2.
It’s the nation’s largest Caribbean cultural festival attracting more than a million jubilant participants and spectators.
The seven-hour event starts at 11:00 a.m. in Crown Heights, Brooklyn on Labor Day.
The parade features steel-pan and calypso bands in elaborate costumes that march down Eastern Parkway from Utica Avenue to a reviewing stand at Grand Army Plaza.
Eyewitness News reporter Phil Taitt is honored to serve as one of the parade’s grand marshals.
ABC7 New York will provide streaming coverage of the parade starting at noon at abc7ny.com, our mobile and connected TV apps, as well as our YouTube channel.
New York’s weekend-long Caribbean Carnival dates back to the 1920s when it’s believed to have started in Harlem before moving to Brooklyn in the mid-1960s where it continues to draw millions of people each year.
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NEW YORK — An Israeli woman released by Hamas after 55 days shared her story at Yeshiva University in New York City Tuesday night.
Before October 7, Sapir Cohen was a shy software engineer who could not speak in front of a crowd, but after being released by Hamas, the former hostage has so much to share, including her epiphany.
“I think one of the biggest miracles I felt, maybe I’m supposed to be in this place,” Cohen said.
For 55 days, time stood still. Cohen was starving and at the mercy of terrorists, and that’s when she found her purpose. Her inner power.
She was held captive with a terrified 16-year-old girl. So, Cohen pushed her own fears and pain aside and made it her mission to care for the teenager.
“And from that moment, when I decided to take this responsibility, I felt so powerful,” she said. “That I could take every bad moment and make it a funny moment.”
After a month hidden in a house, they were told they were going to the dreaded tunnels. The teenage girl panicked so, Cohen responded with humor.
“I told her we’re in Gaza. We have to see the No. 1 attraction in Gaza,” she said.
The 30-year-old survivor was visiting her boyfriend’s family on Oct. 7 when the nightmare breached security.
Her boyfriend Sasha is still in captivity. His father was killed.
“Every day I say three things. First is my prayer. Second is, thank you God for sending me to this place. I feel all the power that you gave me. I know how to use to keep myself and this girl. Last is, thank you God about all the angels you sent me to this hell,” Cohen said.
When Sapir was first released, she stayed in her room and cried. Now she travels the world delivering her personal message of hope.
