Bizarre ‘serial litterer’ covering Brooklyn street with old books exposed as NYPD sergeant
After years of speculation and observation, residents of a leafy section of Brooklyn managed to discover that a veteran New York police officer was behind a string of bizarre littering incidents on a street in Greenpoint. “Now, I’m sure we all have random papers in our weekly recycling bin,” one resident wrote on the local site Greenpointers. “But I need to stress to those who have yet to experience this phenomenon with their own eyes the SHEER VOLUME of papers floating down the street. It looks like the work of someone with an enormous collection of old books who spends their weekend tearing apart pages before scattering them in the wind.” Residents told Gothamist that for years on end, they would wake to find find pile after pile of meticulously sliced book pages strewn across Noble Street, ranging from selections of the Bible to 1970s porn magazines to a book on Greco-Roman art. “Sometimes things would be underlined or highlighted on the pages, and we would try to figure out if there was a message,” former block association president Molly FitzSimons told the outlet. “We really could not imagine who would do this … It was just this shadowy mystery.” “It made me just feel compassion for this person who clearly was processing something difficult.” Others didn’t take so kindly to the document dumps. Neighbours began actively trying to catch the person they dubbed the “book bandit,” with one resident deploying their surveillance camera to the effort, and another arranging for a private security firm to stake out the street in the hopes of catching the serial litterer. Security footage obtained by WNYC shows the man in action, driving slowly in the dark and dumping an armful of paper into the road. Eventually, the citizen efforts helped yield a licence plate number, prompting the NYPD to investigate Sergeant John Trzcinski, a veteran officer who joined the force in 1994 and earned $177,516, according to public records. When asked about the littering allegations, the NYPD directed The Independent to a database of disciplinary actions, which showed Sergeant Trzcinski was disciplined on 30 May for littering, losing a vacation day. The Independent has contacted the officer and the police union for comment. The city Department of Sanitation confirmed to Gothamist that Sergeant Trzcinski, who lives in Long Island, hasn’t been fined for littering or illegal dumping. Litterers need to be caught in the act by police or sanitation personnel, and the bundles of papers Sergeant Trzcinski left in the street weren’t large enough to qualify as illegal dumping. Sergeant Trzcinski has been awarded multiple awards for police service, and hasn’t been previously disciplined, according to public records. Read More Veteran police official Edward Caban becomes first Latino to head the NYPD Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect named as Rex Heuermann after arrest for Long Island murders New York City's Rikers Island, facing possible federal takeover, found violating safety standards
2023-07-21 01:45
Malawi racist videos: Chinese man convicted after BBC expose
Lu Ke was shown by BBC Africa Eye making videos with children, some of which included racist content.
2023-07-21 01:26
OpenAI Backs Idea of Requiring Licenses for Advanced AI Systems
An internal policy memo drafted by OpenAI shows the company supports the idea of requiring government licenses from
2023-07-21 01:26
Diogo Jota reveals what makes Alexis Mac Allister so good
Diogo Jota praises Alexis Mac Allister's range of passing after he bagged an assist in Liverpool's 4-2 win over Karlsruher in a pre-season friendly.
2023-07-21 01:25
Hamilton sorry for sacked De Vries
Lewis Hamilton expressed sympathy on Thursday for rookie Nyck de Vries, sacked by Alpha Tauri after only 10 races, and said it demonstrated the way in which Red Bull, not...
2023-07-21 01:23
What did Rex Heuermann's wife say about his arrest? Asa Ellerup's response to husband's alleged serial killings revealed
Rex Heuermann was arrested outside his architectural firm in Manhattan on July 13
2023-07-21 01:21
Marcus Rashford told how to achieve levels of Mbappe and Haaland
Wayne Rooney says Marcus Rashford must help Manchester United win regular trophies if he's to reach the levels of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. The former Red Devil also says Harry Maguire must leave the club after losing the captaincy.
2023-07-21 01:20
US imposes new sanctions aimed at choking off Russia's access to battlefield supplies and revenue
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on roughly 120 firms and people in an effort to choke off Moscow’s access to products, money and financial channels that support its continued invasion of Ukraine
2023-07-21 01:19
Reddit Place experiment immediately covered in grotesque messages
Reddit users have hijacked a collaborative experiment launched by the company within minutes of its launch. The third edition of Reddit Place – a 1-million-pixel online canvas that allows any user to choose the colour of an individual pixel – launched on Thursday amid ongoing protests against the platform’s management. Communities, or sub-Reddits, quickly organised to post explicit messages aimed at Reddit’s chief executive on various sections of the canvas. In the centre of r/Place, a giant sign appeared within minutes reading, “Fuck Spez”, referring to Reddit CEO Steve ‘Spez’ Huffman. Other sections included graffiti scrawled with the same message, while another featured the text “Never forget what was stolen from us” – referring to the third-party apps that shut down in the wake of API changes to the site. Reddit was forced to push back the experiment several times in efforts to avoid coinciding with the worst of the protests, which at one stage saw thousands of high profile sub-Reddits go dark. Reddit acknowledged the timing of the latest social experiment, adding the tagline: “Right place, wrong time.” The Independent has reached out to Reddit for further comment on the latest protests. Reddit Place is set to continue for the next four days, allowing users to contribute to its evolving creation. Previous editions featured flags, cartoon characters, popular memes and even works of art. One nihilistic group called The Black Void was able to take over vast swathes of the 2017 Reddit Place Canvas with black pixels. The original concept of Reddit Place was intended to “enable humans to communicate and collaborate in ways they have never been able to before”, according to creator Josh Wardle, who went on to create the popular word game Wordle. “My hope is that the success and collaborative nature of projects like Place will encourage other internet companies to take some more risks when exploring ways that their users can interact,” he said at the time. Read More The Reddit blackout, explained: Why thousands of subreddits are protesting third-party app charges Reddit CEO tells employees ‘this will pass’ in response to major chaos at site Netflix kills its cheapest plan without ads Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is going much better than people expected Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web
2023-07-21 01:19
Sao Paulo governor turns heads on Brazil's right after Bolsonaro election ban
By Ricardo Brito BRASILIA The governor of Brazil's wealthiest and most populous state, Tarcisio de Freitas, has emerged
2023-07-21 01:19
MLB Rumors: Shohei Ohtani buzz, Braves plans changing, Red Sox stealing Yankees target
MLB Rumors: Could Red Sox steal Cody Bellinger from Yankees at trade deadline?For weeks now, the New York Yankees have been the most obvious and widely discussed fit for Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger. But as the Yankees plans for the deadline have seemingly started to change with the poss...
2023-07-21 01:18
White House and administration officials increasingly concerned about Texas governor's border actions
Biden administration officials have grown increasingly concerned over recent months about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's measures along the Texas-Mexico border, which have disrupted US Border Patrol operations in the region and put migrants at risk.
2023-07-21 01:15
