Wednesday’s Headlines: ‘Got Him’ Edition
The big story yesterday was the arrest on criminally negligent homicide and other charges of Tariq Witherspoon, the 30-year-old EMT who allegedly struck and killed beloved schoolteacher Matthew Jensen with a Rolls Royce in a hit-and-run crash last May on McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn.
The Daily News kept the focus on Jensen, offering encomia to the life of the deceased in a sidebar. Streetsblog’s account had rich details on the suspect’s priors and on the dangers of the street, a known speedway. Brooklyn Paper highlighted the charges.
In other news:
- Outreach workers offered help to 100 individuals in the first day of the MTA’s crackdown on sleeping in the subway. (NYDN, Brooklyn Eagle)
- Mayor Adams is “tech washing” the NYPD’s pervasive surveillance of citizens, a City Limits op-ed argues.
- The MTA brought back a retired honcho to run the subway. (NYDN)
- Following other outlets, the Times and amNY took a look at the NYPD on a subway “safety” sweep.
- A DOT employee and a horse-drawn carriage collided in Central Park. (West Side Rag)
- Here’s another reason to stay out of SUVs. (NYDN, NYPost)
- A Brooklyn motorist is facing charges after killing his female passenger in a drunken East Flatbush crash. (NYDN)
- Moms don’t want to fold kids’ strollers on the bus. (amNY)
- ICYMI: The Department of Environmental Protection has a pilot program to ticket loud cars. (Road and Track)
- In addition to the Witherspoon arrest, Streetsblog’s old man had a busy day:
- He covered the confirmation that the DOT will build a plaza where a 3-month-old girl died last year.
- And he wrote up a presser with Ydanis Rodriguez at a notorious Queens intersection.
- The New Yorker magazine indulged in some anti-car wish fulfillment:
New Yorker magazine: Welcome to The War on Cars. https://t.co/sw2uFZ6JvY
— The War on Cars (@TheWarOnCars) February 22, 2022
- Love him or hate him (and Mets fans obviously hate him), it’s nice to see Bryce Harper on a bike (click on the picture to see the full magnitude of Harper’s thigh, which is its own taunt of Met fans):
I pride myself in being fairly lucky…but this is pretty incredible bumping into the National Leagues MVP and my favorite Phillies player BRYCE HARPER riding his bike down by our condo on the streets of Clearwooder
?????????#PlayBall pic.twitter.com/zfBn8ZLga4— Steve Swope (@coachswope22) February 22, 2022