Fire chief Mike Charles (left), FDNY firefighter Brian Schuck When shots rang out near his firehouse in Hempstead, Long Island, Michael Charles did what any red-blooded fire chief would have done: grab a gun, form a posse, and saddle up (in an SUV). But for his efforts, Charles and FDNY firefighter Brian Schuck, who joined in the armed manhunt, have been charged with second-degree menacing and fourth-degree possession of a dangerous weapon charges. (A third member of the posse is expected to be arrested soon, Newsday reports .) In their search for the gunman, the three men allegedly stopped and frisked an innocent man, 29-year-old Kenneth Powell, who happens to be the son of Hempstead Village Trustee Perry Pettus. Powell told investigators he was walking along Tompkins Place Sunday when the three men pulled up in an SUV with the fire department seal on it. He says one man pointed a gun at him as he was questioned and patted down; Schuck allegedly stayed inside the SUV with a shotgun protruding from the window. “I was petrified,” Powell tells Newsday . According to police, he was not involved with the shooting incident, in which two men exchanged gunfire, injuring another man and a woman in the crossfire. When Powell told Chief Charles he was the son of a local official, he was released. “[Charles] formed his own posse, went out looking for a suspect and acted in a vigilante manner,” a Nassau police spokesman says. “We simply can’t condone people taking the law into their own hands.” But Chief Charles has helped local police in the past; he once detained a drunk driver until he could be arrested. And his attorney wants everyone to know that Powell did two years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon. The Daily News reports that it “was not clear why they targeted” Powell, but here’s a photo of his father , so you do the math. Charles tells the Post, “My instincts kicked in. I guess it doesn’t pay to get involved anymore.”

View post: 
"Vigilante Posse" Lands FDNY Firefighter, LI Chief in Hot Water

Robert Halderman last November (AP) Robert “Joe” Halderman pleaded guilty yesterday for his attempt to extort $2 million from David Letterman by way of revealing Letterman’s many affairs. The former CBS News producer admitted his scheme to sell a movie treatment to the talk show host “was just a thinly-veiled threat to ruin Mr. Letterman if he did not pay me a lot of money.” Halderman also confirmed that he deposited a fake $2 million check from Letterman’s lawyers. With his guilty plea for second-degree grand larceny, he faces six months at Rikers (though he’ll probably just serve four), four and a half years of probation, and 1,000 hours of community service. The Post calls it a “sweetheart deal,” noting that Halderman promised to keep quiet about Letterman’s affairs, including one with Halderman’s former girlfriend Stephanie Birkitt. Halderman also apologized to “Mr. Letterman and his family; to Stephanie Birkitt and her family and everyone else that I have hurt or disappointed.” Halderman’s lawyer Gerald Shargel told the NY Times , “We raised some novel legal issues, novel defenses”—like the Tiger Woods defense —”I couldn’t be at all certain that they would prevail. Weighing the risks against the rewards, I thought this was an opportunity to make the best of a bad mess.” Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. credited Letterman with coming to the authorities after the threat, “Mr. Letterman risked the disclosure of certain aspects of his private life. Like all New Yorkers, he has a right to a certain degree of privacy in his personal life.” Letterman said on his show last night that the matter was “was handled professionally, skillfully and appropriately,” and thanked Vance as well as former DA Robert Morgenthau.

Originally posted here:
Halderman Admits "Thinly Veiled Threat To Ruin" Letterman

Despite invasive full body scanners popping up at our nation’s airports, Janet Napolitano says you’ll still have to take your shoes off to get through security. According to the Homeland Security Secretary, shoes are so impenetrable that they can’t be fully screened while they’re on your feet, reports the AP . Too bad these never caught on. During a live video chat session, she also spoke to the shortage of air marshals on domestic and international flights, and about incidents, like the Newark airport kisser , where non-passengers cause security meltdowns by entering unauthorized areas. She said that for now only ticketed travelers would be allowed in secure areas but that “It may be possible to change that as we move forward.”

See the rest here:
Airport Shoe Removal to Continue

Carroll Gardens ( Daniel Krieger’s Flickr ) Police are investigating a possible hate crime that allegedly took place in Carroll Gardens shortly after 8 p.m on Tuesday, March 2nd. Investigators say the victim, an unnamed 22-year-old man, was severely beaten by five men shouting anti-gay slurs, near Luquer Street and Hamilton Avenue. He suffered “cuts to the back of his head and bad facial bruises,” an NYPD source tells Fox . At this point, investigators say they don’t have much to go on. They’re trying to find any surveillance video from the area that might help in the investigation, but they don’t have a description of any of the five men. (In October, another anti-gay bias attack in Queens was caught on camera , and police were able to arrest two suspects.) Last night openly gay City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in a statement: I was appalled and sickened to learn of last weeks anti-LGBT hate crime in Carroll Gardens. New York City’s greatest strength is our diversity. All New Yorkers should be free to walk our streets without fear of being attacked for who they are or who they are perceived to be. The victim of last weeks attack was simply walking on the street when he was beaten by a group of men while being called anti-gay epithets. This is outrageous and unacceptable. We thank the NYPD for their swift response to this case, and urge the alleged perpetrators to turn themselves in immediately. They and any other bigots need to know that the NYPD responds in full force to any and all hate crimes . And City Council member Brad Lander , who represents the neighborhood, said, “Carroll Gardens is a diverse community. We have no room for hate in our community. We embrace every race, religion and sexual orientation. We will not tolerate hate and violence in Carroll Gardens or anywhere else in New York City.”

See more here:
NYPD Probes Carroll Gardens Beating as Possible Hate Crime

Actor Corey Haim died this morning of an apparent overdose, TMZ reports. The LAPD confirms the 38-year-old was found unresponsive in his Oakwood, California apartment, where his mother was also staying—he was pronounced dead at Providence St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Burbank. The LAPD believe the death was accidental. Haim battled drug addiction for much of his life, a subject that was touched upon in “The Two Coreys,” the A&E reality show he co-starred in with longtime friend Corey Feldman in 2007 and 2008. The show allegedly ended because Feldman refused to work with Haim until he got help. (Some clips of Haim after the jump.)

See the original post here: 
Corey Haim, Dead At 38