Straphanger Wanted For Slugging MTA Worker With Bag

Photograph of the alleged suspect. Photo courtesy of the NYPD

By Christina Carrega

An MTA employee who was attempting to break up a fight between two passengers was seriously injured when an assailants’ handbag slapped him in the face, police said.

Police are looking for the passenger who allegedly struck a 48-year-old motorman in the face with her handbag during a verbal dispute. Police said she had three small children with her at the time of the attack.

On Dec. 27, the MTA employee saw two women fighting on the subway platform of the Court Square and Jackson Avenue G line and attempted to intervene.

As the employee was separating the two customers, one of them, hit him in the face and caused his tooth to chip. The train conductor suffered a laceration to his lip and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital-Queens.

The alleged assailant is described as an African-American woman, who is approximately 35-years-old, 5-foot-6 inches, medium complexion and thin build. She was last seen wearing a dark grey hat, black waist-length jacket, grey tights and red sneakers.

She was accompanied by three small children.

Anyone with information in regard to 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 CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

Flushing Town Hall Celebrates the Year of the Pig

Chinese communities distribute red envelopes — often filled with money — on Lunar New Year. Photos courtesy of Flushing Town Hall

By David Brand

Flushing Town Hall will kick off the first two months of its 40th Anniversary by celebrating the Year of the Pig, with a series of Chinese Lunar New Year events throughout January and February.

On Saturday, the venue partnered with Grumpy Bert gallery curator Bert Chau for the Red Envelope Show, a gallery of artwork painted or illustrated on red envelopes. The choice of medium commemorates the Lunar New Year tradition of distributing red envelopes, often filled with money, each new year.

The show’s stunning images — created by local artists — will decorate the walls of Flushing Town Hall until the annual Chinese New Year Temple Bazaar on Feb. 17. All artwork is on sale at the venue and many envelopes include special gifts, Flushing Town Hall said in a statement.

The Red Envelope gallery opening was just the first Lunar New Year event to take place at Flushing Town Hall this winter.

On Saturday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m., Flushing Town Hall will host “Four Seasons,” a mix of poetry, music, dance, opera and puppetry. The “vivid, living animation” in the program was created by the award-winning Chinese Theatre Works, Flushing Town Hall said.

On Sunday, the Flushing Town Hall’s teaching artist Tina Seligman will FTH Teaching/Visual Artist Tina Seligman will run a free Red Envelope Show workshop where attendees can design their own red envelopes to display at the arts venue.

The Lunar New Year festivities culminate with the Chinese New Year Temple Bazaar on Sunday, Feb. 17. The annual event features performances, art workshops and lantern-making along with traditional food to celebrate the Year of the Pig.

Boulevard of ‘Depth’: Chunk of Queens Boulevard Collapses

A street cave-in occurred at a construction site near the corner of Northern Boulevard and 114th Street on Friday. Photo via Google Maps

By David Brand

Queens new “Boulevard of Death” became the Boulevard of Depth on Friday afternoon when a large chunk of street and sidewalk caved in.

The street and sidewalk at Northern Boulevard and 114th Street in East Elmhurst collapsed into a 40-foot-wide crater near a construction site as a gas line exploded and a water main ruptured.

The city said no one was injured in the collapse.

Manhattan-based Perini Group Inc. is developing a 12-story mixed use building at the site and said they were looking into the cause of the cave-in.

“We’re still investigating the reasons for that, we had a stop work order so no one was hurt,” assistant project manager Angela Li told the Eagle.

Li said the building will feature mostly commercial tenants.

After the collapse Con Edison shut down a gas line along Northern Boulevard. The cave-in occurred a few miles from the site of an equipment malfunction that triggered an explosion and illuminated the sky above Astoria on Dec. 27.

The cave-in sent debris flying through the area, piercing a car roof, shattering the windshield of another vehicle and stopping traffic amid a cloud of dust.

Department of Buildings spokesman Andrew Rudansky said that inspectors found a section of sidewalk and roadway that caved into the construction excavation.

The city issued a stop-work order on Dec. 19 after someone submitted a complaint that the work was causing cracks on the sidewalk and the road.

The site also lacked the required construction plans, inspectors said. The stop-work order was still in effect at the time of the collapse.

The retaining wall of the construction site developed a large hole, which allowed dirt to pour in and caused the street to give way, the FDNY said.

Transportation safety advocates have dubbed Northern Boulevard the “Boulevard of Death” because it accounts for more traffic-collision fatalities than any other street in Queens.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press