June 30, 2005
Tourists arrested for false Central Park robbery story
Two tourists from Norway were robbed in Central Park by a knife-wielding man -- or so they told police before their story quickly unraveled Tuesday and they were arrested for filing a false report, police said.
The "victims" reported to police late Monday night that they were near the East Side boathouse when the suspect confronted them at knifepoint.
"Give me the camcorder or I'll kill you," the suspect supposedly said, grabbing it from one of the men, then taking from the duo a ring, a watch, a CD player and some cash before running off. In all, the men told cops they were robbed of more than $2,100 worth of items, police said.
Police who responded to the 11:35 p.m. incident did a quick canvass of the area by the boathouse without finding anything.
About 10 a.m. Tuesday, though, Det. Cheryll Robinson of the 22nd Precinct in Central Park went to The Big Apple Youth Hostel, where the men, Espen Skotterud and Are Kjaer, both 24, were staying. The men were checking out of the midtown hotel and had tickets to go back to Norway Tuesday afternoon, but Robinson asked them to go back to the precinct for more questioning, police said.
That's when their story fell apart.
Detectives found discrepancies in their tale and, eventually, the suspects caved in and confessed, police said. They admitted to concocting the robbery story because they had lost the camcorder and had been told by an insurance company that it reimburses stolen items, but not those that are lost.
Police, meanwhile, said they recovered a Sony CD player, a Nixon watch and a gold ring in their bags. The camera, a Hitachi DVD model worth $1,450, had not been found, police said.
Skotterud and Kjaer, who are friends from the same building in Oslo, had been on a 10-day U.S. tour that took them to Las Vegas and California. Last night, they were awaiting arraignment.(Newsday)
Tags:
busted, cd, norwegians, nypd, robbery, theft, tourists
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Posted on 6/30/2005
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June 30, 2005
Every Fourth of July Domo-Kun loves reading about his Japanese countryman who at 5'7" has won Nathan's hot dog eating contest for years. And now we learn that Peter Lugar has one of America's best burgers:
New York City has been named America's greatest meat market, serving up three of the best hamburgers in the nation.
GQ magazine rated the "20 hamburgers you must eat before you die."
The Big Apple restaurants that made the nationwide list were Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn, the Burger Joint at the Parker Meredien hotel in Midtown, and J.G. Melon on the Upper East Side. (NYP)
Tags:
burger, hot dog, nathans, peter luger
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Posted on 6/30/2005
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June 30, 2005
We love hybrids! Toyota announced it will start producing hybrid Camrys in Tennessee. And this just in, a funky headline from the Post:
HYBRID CABS FACE SQUEEZY PASS
Cabbies will save lots of fuel — but their customers will lose lots of leg room — under a City Council bill, expected to pass today, that would allow taxi companies and drivers to buy hybrid cars.
Yesterday, supporters of the measure showed off Toyota and Lexus SUVs as the future of the taxi.
"New York City is leading the way with cabs that produce less pollution and save our resources," said Councilman John Liu (D-Queens).
The bill would give drivers an alternative to the eight gas-burning sedans and SUVs approved by the city for use as taxis.
Gas-electric hybrids can get 36 mpg, almost 20 mpg more than the Ford Crown Victoria, the most common of New York's 13,000 cabs.
But if you hail one, be prepared to give up a foot of leg room.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission vowed to work with auto makers to get more space.(NYP)
Tags:
cabs, honda, hybrid, lexus, pollution, taxi, tlc, toyota
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Posted on 6/30/2005
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June 24, 2005
Johnny Overstreet, manager of this Associated supermarket on Avenue C, disappeared after the safe was emptied and the front door left open.
A supermarket manager who vanished from his East Village store — leaving behind an open safe and his cellphone — has sparked fears from his worried wife and suspicion from cops.
"There's got to be something wrong," said his wife of eight months, Jean Overstreet, 26. "It's so unlike him [to vanish], and I'm just so boggled."
Johnny Overstreet, 32, was the closing manager at the Associated Supermarket, 123 Ave. C at 8th Street, and was alone at the store late Sunday.
His wife said that she spoke to him around 11 p.m., when he told her he planned to take the subway home to their apartment in Marine Park, Brooklyn. She awoke at 5 a.m. and saw he wasn't home.
Police found the door unlocked and both the store's safe and the ATM emptied of $20,000 in cash.
They also found what appeared to be drops of blood, which were being tested.
Law-enforcement sources said Johnny has a record of two arrests, for burglary and assault, but details were not available.
"It makes me mad," Jean told The Post. "I understand they deal with countless different types of people, but they never met Johnny."
Money is not an issue with the couple, she asserted. "It's so here for him" if he needed it, she said, noting that their savings exceeded the amount that was missing.
Stranger still, sources say the alarm company, noting that the alarm was not set by the usual time of 11:30 p.m., phoned the store several times until 3:30 a.m. Johnny answered and explained he was trying to fix an air-conditioning system that had been malfunctioning.
Law-enforcement sources say they think Johnny may have had a secret life that forced him to come up with cash in a hurry, but are being tight-lipped about the details.
His brother-in-law, who gave only his first name, James, said it was implausible to believe Johnny would stay in the store so long if he had intended to steal the cash.
"The cops are looking the wrong way at this," he said. (NYP)
Tags:
associated, avenue c, disappearance, grocery store, mystery
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Posted on 6/24/2005
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June 22, 2005
Slip -n- slide in Union Square after Snapple's quest to build the world's largest popsicle went terribly wrong yesterday. It melted in the heat and sent unsuspecting pedestrians and cyclists slipping and sliding.
Tags:
flood, popsicle, snafu, snapple, union square
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Posted on 6/22/2005
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June 15, 2005
Domo-Kun pays homage to the great David Sutherland, illustrator of Blibdoolpoolp from the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa.
From the Grand Forks Herald: David Sutherland, the Minneapolis native and illustrator whose images helped lead the fantasy role-playing game "Dungeons & Dragons" to success in the late 1970s and 1980s, has died of chronic liver failure. Sutherland died June 6 at his home in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. He was 56.
Tags:
blibdoolpoolp, dungeons and dragons, obituary
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Posted on 6/15/2005
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