Tag: new york

Upstate NY Mayor, Fmr Police Chief, Leads Cops on Chase, Throwing Crack From His Car

In a story that sounds like something out of an episode of an Adult Swim cartoon, the Mayor of Massena, NY, and the town’s former police chief was arrested this month after speeding away from police while throwing crack cocaine out of the window of his car.

Timmy J. Currier, the former police chief and current mayor of the village of Massena has announced a leave of absence this month after video showed him getting arrested at gunpoint after leading police on a high speed chase.

Before becoming mayor of Massena, Currier was the city’s top cop. He was the Massena police chief for over two decades — which is likely where he developed his affinity for crack.

According to police, during the chase, this former chief of police and current mayor began throwing crack out of the window to avoid getting caught with it.

The incident began as part of an undercover sting operation in which Currier was a suspect. Officials with the St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said detectives and special agents from an undercover operation in association with the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security attempted to pull Currier’s vehicle over on suspicion of drug sales and possession on Saturday Dec. 1, at 12:25 p.m.

However, Currier did not stop when police initiated the stop and instead led them on a chase. Detectives said they witnessed Currier throw the crack from his passenger’s side window as he was the only occupant of the vehicle.

When police finally caught up to Currier, the mayor was held at gunpoint and pulled from the car, before being handcuffed and brought to jail. According to Syracuse.com, Currier was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and released to appear at a later date.

Apparently, his two decades as the police chief and his current position as the mayor, has granted him a little privilege among the law enforcement class and he was simply allowed to walk right out of the jail, posting no bail, and facing no other charges despite running from cops.

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New York Sends “Mask Squads” To Enforce Social Distancing In Two Counties

In another page right out of the Gestapo playbook, the Health Department of New York state – which is now losing thousands of people every day due to its high taxes, draconian rules and coercive regulations – has put out an urgent appeal for what the NY Post called “Mask squad” staffers to go to Rockland and Orange counties “to perform COVID-19 community outreach and enforce mask and social distancing safety protocols amid fears of a second wave of the virus.”

“The DOH is responsible for community outreach and enforcement of Executive Orders and regulations related to the use of face-coverings/masks and social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the department said in a Monday email to employees in its office of health insurance programs.

“Staff is needed for immediate URGENT deployment to Orange and Rockland counties to assist with this critical public health and community enforcement effort,” the recruitment pitch to staffers in the agency’s office of health insurance programs obtained by the Post said.

Staffers would volunteer to work in Orange and Rockland counties in shifts that run from Saturday, Dec. 5 through Friday, Dec. 11 and consequent weeks through New Year’s Day. Workers who volunteer for the Orange-Rockland mask squad will be eligible for overtime pay.

The two counties, which both have large ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities where some have defied safety protocols, have among the highest coronavirus infection rates in the state. The Middletown area of Orange had an alarming 8.16% COVID-19 infection rate as of Saturday. The city of Newburgh in Orange had a 7.78% infection rate, while the Orange-Monroe County border towns posted a 7.8 percent positivity rate. Rockland County’s infection rate was 5.8%.

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NYC bar owner who defied coronavirus restrictions arrested

An owner of a New York City bar that was providing indoor service in defiance of coronavirus restrictions was arrested after a sting in which plainclothes officers went inside and ordered food and beverages, the city sheriff’s office said.

Protesters shouted as deputies arrested Danny Presti, the co-owner of Mac’s Public House on Staten Island, on Tuesday.

The tavern is in an area designated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as an orange zone because of spiking COVID-19 rates and was not supposed to be serving customers indoors. But the owners had declared the bar an “autonomous zone,” a nod to protesters who claimed control over a Seattle neighborhood in June.

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New York City Wants People to Call 911 on Someone Smoking Cannabis

Somebody peacefully getting high without bothering or harming anybody else is listed together with “a disorderly person or small or large group, including protestors, causing a hazardous or dangerous condition right now” and “an emergency situation or condition that might cause danger to life or personal property” as reasons to call 911 instead of the 311 Citizen Service Management System.

According to the Observer, this is “yet another example of how police resources are used—and perhaps misused—in New York City for lack of any better alternatives, as there’s simply no one else to call.”

New York City has long held the unglamorous title as the most inhospitable city in the United States for cannabis users, with possession being most frequent reason why a New Yorker would be arrested.

And while cannabis possession was decriminalized in New York State last August the act of smoking weed is still a crime. 

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Watch as NY Business Owners Stand Up to Cuomo’s COVID Restrictions, Chase Agents Out of Building

New York business owners protesting COVID-19 restrictions put in place by Governor Andrew Cuomo confronted and chased away county health department agents after compassionately asking the bureaucrats to leave them alone.

About 100 business owners gathered inside the Athletes Unleashed gym in Orchard Park on Friday night to organize against the new “orange zone” regulations that requires businesses deemed unessential by the state to shut down and limits indoor gatherings to 10 people.

Video from the gathering shows the moment the business owners confronted two officials from the Erie County Department of Health, escorted by sheriff’s deputies, who were attempting to shut down the meeting.

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SCOTUS Blocks New York’s COVID-19 Restrictions on Houses of Worship, Saying They Are Not ‘Narrowly Tailored’

The Court has said the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause does not require religious exemptions from neutral, generally applicable laws. But it also has said laws are presumptively unconstitutional when they discriminate against religion.

New York’s restrictions “cannot be viewed as neutral because they single out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment,” the majority says. In red zones, businesses deemed “essential”—including supermarkets, convenience stores, hardware stores, pet stores, liquor stores, laundromats, acupuncturists, banks, and various offices—operate without capacity limits. “The disparate treatment is even more striking in an orange zone,” the Court notes. “While attendance at houses of worship is limited to 25 persons, even non-essential businesses may decide for themselves how many persons to admit.”

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New York Democratic Leaders Caught Maskless At Private Party Despite COVID Restrictions

Elite New York Democrats attending a Brooklyn private party did not adhere to the state’s coronavirus restrictions, photographs show.

The event was a private birthday party for Carl Scissura, who is the head of the New York Building Congress, a trade organization, the New York Daily News reported Thursday. Other attendees included former Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio and Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the publication reported.

Photographs of the event showed that very few people wore masks, though the party attendees stood in close proximity to one another as they chatted. One photograph showed both Seddio and Lewis-Martin chatting maskless.

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Watch as NY Business Owners Stand Up to Cuomo’s COVID Restrictions, Chase Agents Out of Building

New York business owners protesting COVID-19 restrictions put in place by Governor Andrew Cuomo confronted and chased away county health department agents after compassionately asking the bureaucrats to leave them alone.

About 100 business owners gathered inside the Athletes Unleashed gym in Orchard Park on Friday night to organize against the new “orange zone” regulations that requires businesses deemed unessential by the state to shut down and limits indoor gatherings to 10 people.

Video from the gathering shows the moment the business owners confronted two officials from the Erie County Department of Health, escorted by sheriff’s deputies, who were attempting to shut down the meeting.

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De Blasio Unleashes ‘COVID Checkpoints’ To Catch & Fine NYC Travelers Who Violate Holiday Quarantine

As millions of Americans defy the CDC’s warning not to travel for the holiday season, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has once again dispatched police to key traffic chokepoints where his quarantine rules will be strictly enforced.

New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito said the sheriff’s office (a separate entity from the NYPD) will conduct spot checks when out-of-state buses drop riders off at the curb, and will also check cars will out of state and New York licenses plates. Test-and-trace teams will also be on the ground to help direct people to testing sites while providing “education” about quarantine.

New York’s statewide 14-day holiday quarantine mandates that travelers quarantine, or take a test showing they’re negative. Violations of self-quarantine will be enforced, and may carry fines of $1,000 to $2,000, the mayor’s office has said.

Around the US, few jurisdictions have actually enforced quarantine and social distancing rules, though people have been killed in fights spurred by mandatory mask requirements. Some governors, including Kristi Noem in South Dakota, have refused to make wearing masks and other social distancing measures mandatory.

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