A Stitch in Haste

I live, literally, next door to 524 E. 72nd St.

I of course was not at home at the time, am not there now and am completely fine. I have no idea when I will be able to go home, but I have no reason to think that Diamond isn't fine too.

Blogging is obviously suspended until further notice.

UPDATE #1: Diamond is fine. There's a smell of burnt rubber throughout the neighborhood, including the building and my apartment. She finds it quite perplexing.

I had hoped to capture some video or pictures, but it's dark, raining and there's not much to see except emergency vehicles.

UPDATE #2: For those who need a little perspective --


I live in the shorter yellow building in the center and to the immediate right of the Belaire. The mostly glass building on the far right is Sotheby's.


Again, I'm in the shorter yellow building to the right. For perspective, my building is 18 stories tall. (Source for photos here.)

Not very polished, sorry.


Pictures tonight.

One of the key selling points of my block is that it is supposed to be a quiet, peaceful cul-de-sac -- a tranquil enclave embedded in the noisy whirlwind of Manhattan.

So much for that advertising slogan.

And it's not the first time.

(Originally posted 6 December 2005.)

---

If you watch "COPS," then you know that many if not most high-speed pursuits are over trivial matters, sometimes as trivial as unpaid traffic tickets.

Well, I hope the maniac who almost killed me and Diamond this afternoon fleeing the police down my cul-de-sac was wanted for something more heinous than that.

Once we were safely back in my apartment I took some pictures (I now sorta kinda regret not owning a camera phone).



The suspect was in the crashed car to the left of the taxi. The car directly behind it is an unmarked police car that was pursuing the crashed car, which had first stopped, was rear-ended by the unmarked police car, then tried to drive through the barricade. Diamond and I were maybe 50 feet from all this, right behind the topmost civilian car.

For those familiar with the east side of Manhattan, the FDR Drive is three stories below this little park (i.e., past the upper right corner of this picture). I wonder whether the suspect would have just kept driving right off the edge onto the highway.



The NYPD does not take kindly to high-speed chases in Manhattan.



By the time it was over, there were 21 police cars on the scene (not including the unmarked chase car).



Life imitates "The Blues Brothers"...



The Perpwalk...



384 U.S. 436 (1966)

And if anyone's wondering, yes I did put myself between the scene and Diamond in anticipation of any gunfire (there was simply nowhere to run at first, we could only drop). Fortunately it didn't come to that.

I snapped a few photos this morning, similar to the video.

The street and sidewalk have been cleaned and scaffolding is already going up next door at 524. The front entrance of my building is still off limits, but I suspect by tomorrow all will be back to normal.

Nineteen comments at the first post — that's far and away a new record. I guess that means that you all care more about me than about my blogging, which is probably a good thing, right? :-)

It also reminds me how many of you are here in NYC and how few of you I've actually met. I hope that changes.

So, cheers!


Substantive blogging resumes tomorrow (but recall this post).