Fox News Flash top headlines for June 23
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has set his sights on the staggering surge in fireworks use - as a startling video emerging showing a group of men aiming and shooting one at a person sleeping on the sidewalk in Harlem.
A video that made the rounds on Monday shows one man tossing the lit fireworks in the direction of a sleeping homeless person earlier that day. The attacker is then seen running away as voices can be heard in the background.
A small flame grows into a fireworks burst as the man flees from the person sleeping on the pavement, who appears motionless.
New York Police Department’s Chief of Detectives, Rodney Harrison, said in a Tuesday morning tweet the victim was a homeless man who suffered burns to his back. His attackers were still on the loose as of 7 a.m.
FIREWORKS COMPLAINTS SURGE AS HIGH AS 4,000 PERCENT IN NORTHEAST CITIES -- WHAT'S BEHIND IT?
“The inhumanity of this crime is shocking to everyone who watches,” NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan wrote in his own tweet on Tuesday morning. “The NYPD WILL apprehend those responsible for using fireworks to assault our fellow New Yorker in #Harlem yesterday.”
The increased use of fireworks is nothing new in recent days in New York City. Fireworks complaints made with the city’s 311 hotline skyrocketed to 6,385 between June 1 and June 19– 236 times the 27 received during the same period in 2019, Gothamist reported.
NYPD CALLS ON PUBLIC TO HELP CRACK DOWN ON ILLEGAL USE OF FIREWORKS AFTER COMPLAINTS SKYROCKET
Juneteenth saw the highest number of complaints in a single day, with 1,689. The day before 1,221 complaints were made, while on June 17 saw 983 complaints made, the outlet reported.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and City Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr told media on Sunday they believed people should not call 911 or 311, and should instead try other options.
“This is a nonviolent act, so those three numbers that we always dial – 911 – get over that,” Adams, a former member of the NYPD, said during the press conference, according to an account by WCBS880. “We have left the place of 911 being the response for everything in our city.”
After nights of fireworks complaints, hundreds of people reportedly drove to de Blasio’s home, Gracie Mansion, on Monday night to honk in protest of his alleged lack of action against firework deployment, according to social media.
That same night, de Blasio told Spectrum NY1 he has asked city agencies to concoct a plan for how to address the issue, which he admitted he initially thought was an isolated problem.
“It is a much earlier, much bigger run-up to July 4. I do think July 4 is the nexus still, but it’s unlike anything we’ve ever see before,” de Blasio told the outlet. “I’m very worried about it … Besides the fact that it’s a nuisance and quality of life problem, I’m really worried that some kid’s going to get hurt or someone’s going to set something on fire accidentally.”
The mayor announced Tuesday morning the formation of an "Illegal Fireworks Task Force" to crack down on those supplying the pyrotechnics or otherwise profiting off them and determine where they are coming from.
The task force will be made up of more than 40 officers from the NYPD, Fire Department of New York and New York City Sheriff's Office and will include "undercover buys, sting operations – finding where the supply is and cutting it off at the knees."
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"We're going to start a huge sting operation to go and get these illegal fireworks at the base, meaning everywhere they're being sold in New York City and even where they're being sold in surrounding states where we know they're being brought into New York City," de Blasio said during his daily press conference.
De Blasio said the FDNY will also spearhead a public safety campaign to raise awareness.
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