Dateline: New YorkA Brooklyn man’s leg became trapped while crossing the street when a sinkhole opened up beneath him. Stephen Suarez was attempting to walk across an intersection when his foot broke through the pavement and his right leg was swallowed up to his hip. According to reports, the hole was only the size of a softball and hadn’t existed before Suarez stepped on it. He was unable to free himself and emergency workers were sent in to rescue him. Cell phone video taken by a bystander shows Suarez sitting in the middle of a crosswalk with most of his leg completely vanishing into the street. Emergency crews were able to extract Suarez’s leg from the sinkhole and take him to a local hospital with only minor injuries. Suarez was treated and released from NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull. According to his father, he was suffering from back, hip and ankle pain after the accident and underwent X-rays the next day. He had also lost his shoe. The hole was quickly patched up after the incident. The Department of Environmental Protection is investigating what made the ground give out, but said the water mains and sewers are all operating properly. Dateline: Washington D.C.A woman allegedly assaulted a Metrobus driver with a cup of urine because she thought the operator’s tone of voice wasn’t courteous enough. Opal L. Brown was arrested last week after surveillance footage captured images of a suspect throwing a cup of what Metro says was her own urine at the operator. According to Metro, the incident occurred when the driver said, “Have a nice day,” to the woman. Brown confirmed the story in an interview with a local news station in which she said she desperately needed to relieve herself and decided to use a cup she was carrying. She said she had intended to throw the cup away at a later time, but changed her mind when the driver spoke to her. “She said ‘Have a nice day’ all sarcastically,” Brown told the reporter. “She could have been more courteous.” Following a number of local news stories covering the assault, a Facebook account appearing to belong to Brown posted: “OK YALL KNOW IT WAS ME WHO DID THE BAD STUFF TO THE METRO OPERATOR!!! I WANT TO APOLOGIZE TO HER BUT METRO OWE ME AND [she] WAS BEING VERY RUDE.” The driver was not injured in the assault, but she did go to a hospital for “decontamination.” Brown later pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor simple assault in D.C. Superior Court. She is scheduled to appear again in court in September. In 2016, there were 75 recorded assaults on Metrobus operators.Dateline: ColoradoThe “world’s most extreme pop-up shop” opened up earlier this month on the side of a cliff face at 6,000 ft above ground. The Cliffside Shop was open for 24 hours as part of an extreme marketing stunt for advanced materials company 37.5 Technology, whose products are found in brands like Carhhart, Kenneth Cole, Tommy Bahama and Bauer. Located on the sheer side of the Bastille Crack in Eldorado Canyon, the shop offered jackets, fleece and other weather protection to passing climbers. Matt Talbot, creative director of Work in Progress—the marketing agency in charge of the stunt—said the pop-up shop raised $15,000 for the Access Fund and American Alpine Club for local climbing route improvements and brought awareness to the issue of public land preservation. He also intimated that the pop-up might appear in other remote locations.Dateline: New JerseyAuthorities have solved the mysterious appearance of an alligator in a motel swimming pool on the New Jersey shore. The alligator was discovered by police in the Atlantic City Bayview Inn & Suites’ swimming pool while they were conducting a raid of the motel in connection to a series of armed robberies in the area. Officers allegedly found stolen items taken from local homes during the raid—including cash, electronics and other valuables—which resulted in the arrest of two suspects: Bashawn Whitted-Scott of Atlantic City and Sean Temple of Mays Landing. Police say the pair robbed a number of homes in the surrounding area while armed with a firearm earlier this month. Police discovered that the alligator was used by Whitted-Scott and Temple as part of a rap video that was shot at the motel. The music video in question—“Damn,” by rapper Style1 (Temple’s pseudonym)—was posted by 2020VISION on YouTube in June. The two men face charges including robbery, conspiracy, aggravated assault, conspiracy to make terroristic threats and unlawful possession of a weapon. Animal Control was able to capture the alligator and transport it to the Cape May County Park & Zoo. Zoo officials say it will be taken to an animal reserve outside Tampa Bay sometime this year. The Bayview Inn & Suites has been set for demolition.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to josh@alibi.com.
