Just after midnight last Saturday, an off-​duty police officer was attacked by three men, sending him to hospital with a head injury. According to the Daily News, the attack on the 42-​year-​old officer was unprovoked, with one of the suspects jumping in front of the officer “in a fighting stance”, and began attacking after he ignored the group and tried to walk past them, before running off.

These photos of the suspects have been released:

The NYPD are calling for anyone who may recognize the attackers, with a $2000 on offer:

If you know any of the suspects, or have any information on the incident, call Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 577-​TIPS.

It’s been almost a year since a similar late-​night attack by a group on a man in the area. That one was way out near 12^th Ave though, and was on a Thursday night/​Friday morning. This incident however was just off 9^th Ave, and on a Friday night/​Saturday morning. Worrying.

Around noon today, a woman pushing a stroller stepped out of a train at the Columbus Circle station, before stepping back in leaving the stroller on the platform, with a 6 or 7 month old girl inside. More details from the NY Times:

On Monday evening, the police were still trying to determine the identities of the abandoned baby girl and the woman who had left her. They released pictures of the child sitting in a red and white polka-​dot stroller and asked for the public’s help in identifying her.

The baby was unharmed and in stable condition at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center on Monday night.

She was in the custody of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services awaiting placement, a spokesman for the agency said.

The woman who left the child on the platform appeared to be in her 20s or 30s, and was wearing a yellow short-​sleeve blouse. She was riding a northbound No. 1 train.

Since the station is one of the busiest stations in the system, the child was fortunately found quickly and cared for until authorities arrive. The NYPD are asking for help identifying the child, and have released this photo of her:

The story got pretty wide coverage today, so hopefully someone steps forward to identify the child soon.

We’ll preface this by saying it’s still unclear exactly what the incident was, but earlier tonight several fire engines surrounded the Yum Yum 3 building on the corner of W 46^th St & 9^th Ave, with two ladders up and dozens of firefighters, police officers, etc.

Here was the scene:

A large crowd gathered around, as you’d expect:

The fire department took over that entire side of the intersection, blocking off 46^th St:

Firefighters seemed to be coming in/​out of the door into the kitchen of Yum Yum 3:

Lots of crews on hand:

Here’s a great shot of the action from above, from HK regular Laurie Horsman (who also let us know this was going on) from before the corner was roped off:

From what Laurie could see, it sounds like the building was evacuated, with smoke possibly coming from the roof. Once “real” news outlets start up in the morning we should find out more about what happened (even the usually-​vigilant NYC Fire Wire feed was silent). We’ll update this post as we learn more.

Fortunately it doesn’t look like the incident was a fire, and at the very least from the lack of ambulances and general calm attitude of the emergency crews (at least by the stage we got there) it seems like nobody was hurt. Still, a very large response, so it wasn’t nothing…stay tuned.

Thanks Laurie for the heads up!

Around 8:30 this morning, a saw blade flew out from in the never-​ending roadwork going on along 9^th Ave, ricocheting into the air and coming down slicing a pedestrian. The NY Post has details:

It flew off its hinges around 8:30 a.m. on Ninth Avenue near 48^th Street, officials said. It hit the curb and flew 10 feet in the air before plummeting down and striking the woman, officials said.

The 50-​something victim was cut on her right arm and right leg.

The woman suffered a “major injury”, and was taken to Bellevue. Fortunately it sounds like the accident was a lot less-​bad than it could’ve been. Apparently a nearby crossing guard was nearly hit too, so it’s lucky it wasn’t a lot worse.

This is the 3 foot wide blade that flew at the woman:

The roadwork is for installing new water mains around the area as part of a five-​year project, so they won’t be going away any time soon. First buildings are attacking pedestrians…now this. Never going outside again…

Thanks Nathan for the heads up.

On Saturday morning, a 64-​year-​old man was struck and killed after climbing onto the tracks at the 50^th St 8^th Ave subway station, to retrieve jewelry he dropped. More details from the NY Post:

The victim was waiting at the southbound C platform at the Eighth Avenue and West 50^th Street subway station when he dropped a chain onto the tracks around 11:05 a.m., according to police.

He jumped down on the tracks, and was struck by a train, cops said. Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene.

Sad incident.

Some sad news from earlier this week: on Monday afternoon a construction worker fell to his death from a building on W 33^rd St between 9^th & 10^th Aves, as the Post reports:

Cops say the man was working 12 stories above ground level at 434 West 33^rd Street around 3:30 p.m.

The construction worker fell to the second story, where he landed on scaffolding, authorities said.

The man was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced DOA, according to authorities.

Very sad to hear. And making it even more troubling is how long it apparently took crews to remove the worker’s body from the site, according to commenters on CBS NY’s article on the incident. Our condolences to the man’s family…

DNAinfo reports that a fire broke out in the kitchen of the McDonalds on 8^th Ave between 43^rd & 44^th early Monday morning, injuring two people. Per the article:

The flames erupted about 1 a.m. within the fast food eatery at 688 Eighth Ave., near 44^th Street, an FDNY spokesman said.

The two people were taken to Mount Sinai’s Roosevelt hospital with serious injuries but in stable condition, the spokesman said.

The fire was brought under control just before 2am, and the spot has been closed since:

People probably won’t be too upset seeing a McDonalds closed, but it’s good to hear that everyone is (relatively) ok. Fires…

We’ve heard reports that some time last night around 7am there was a stabbing outside Vynl, right on 9^th Ave. Not too much information is available at the moment, other than what local resident Mark reported on Twitter:

Someone was stabbed on 9^th Avenue at 51^st Street in #HellsKitchen #NYC last night (in front of vynl).

And a followup:

My roommate said there was blood in front of Boxers HK too.

Police were outside Vynl this morning investigating, so hopefully we’ll hear more soon. If you have any more info on this “unfortunate incident”, please let us know!

Almost two months ago there was another late-​night stabbing, but that was all the way over on 11^th Ave, which that late at night feels a bit “sketchy”. If it happens in the middle of 9^th Ave, during the day, that’s something else entirely.

Crazy.

Thanks Chris for the heads up!

Update: DNAinfo have uncovered some more information about the incident. Turns out it was earlier this morning, not last night as we originally thought, which makes it that much worse.

The man was stabbed outside the eatery at 754 Ninth Ave. near West 51^st Street just after 7 a.m., officials said.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for non-​life-​threatening injuries, the FDNY said.

At least the victim will be ok. Still no news on why this happened, so we’ll keep an eye out.

Update 2: DNAinfo reports that the attack was part of an attempted robbery.

Starting tomorrow and running through the weekend, the 17^th annual New York City Tattoo Convention is on at the Roseland Ballroom. The name’s pretty self-​explanatory, but here’s what’s on offer, from the site:

The 17^th Annual New York City Tattoo Convention features tattoo artists from around the world as well as piercing professionals, cool merchandise vendors, live stage entertainment, and tattoo contests

Even if you’re not interested in tattoos, you should still consider going, if only to see the inside of Roseland for one of the last events there before it closes and is replaced with a glassy high rise.

Last month, we noticed the UPS Store on 10^th Ave between 48^th & 49^th Streets was closed. A letter on the window – which has since been removed – explained that the closure was because the greater UPS Store franchise had forced them to close their individual spot.

Turns out that wasn’t the only one to get shut down. On W 57^th St, the UPS Store between 8^th & 9^th Aves was also shut down without warning, and as you’d expect people are not happy. People with mailboxes in the store have been unable to retrieve their mail, and from all reports nobody with anything to do with UPS has responded to inquiries or complaints.

So people are taking matters into their own hands.

Funnily enough, the comments section in our previous post has more-​or-​less become the unofficial forum for customers to share their progress with the store, Consumer Affairs, etc. We’re glad we can help!

Meanwhile, offline, people have also begun covering the windows of the store with all sorts of letters and notes about the closure:

(Extra points to FedEx for leaving a failed delivery slip on the door…it’s good to see some humor in all this)

Here’s a helpful listing of all the phone numbers you might need if you’re trying to get mail from the place:

There’s even one giving people (roundabout) directions to the comments on the other post, which is flattering:

The store in question:

If you’ve had any troubles or experiences with these UPS stores, head over to the other post to find out the community’s progress so far and to share your experiences with your fellow neighbors. I’m sure they’d appreciate it. We’re also going to be updating that page with any extra information we can on the situation.

One way or another, hopefully this all gets sorted out soon…