Free Republic

The brute accused of punching a 9-year-old girl at Grand Central Terminal allegedly told police he launched the unprovoked attack because he was “thirsty,” prosecutors said Monday. The bizarre motive for Jean Carlos Zarzuela’s alleged Saturday assault was revealed by prosecutors during his arraignment during which he was ordered held on $100,000 bail — after being cut loose earlier this month following a similar attack. “I hit the girl in the face because I was thirsty,” Zarzuela, 30, allegedly told a detective, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Shara Safer said during the arraignment. “Maybe I hit her in the face by...

The unhinged Manhattan college professor who threatened to “chop” a Post reporter copped a wrist-slap plea deal in Bronx court on Monday. Shellyne Rodriguez, 46, will dodge jail time and won’t even have a criminal record if she makes it through as little as six months in therapy under the terms of her sweetheart deal with Bronx prosecutors. Rodriguez – who was axed from her Hunter College gig hours after the caught-on-video May 23 assault on reporter Reuven Fenton – pleaded guilty to a count of menacing, a misdemeanor, and to a harassment violation. Her record will be wiped clean...

A mom of three was executed in front of her kids less than 24 hours after her estranged husband was sprung from jail on no bail over a caught-on-camera beatdown she’d posted to her Facebook page in a desperate plea for help. The shocking case — in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s western New York hometown — has sparked fresh outrage to New York’s no-cash-bail laws and to the governor and fellow Democrats for refusing to repeal them. Adam Bennefield, 45, who has a prior conviction for kidnapping another ex at gunpoint, is now charged with shooting dead his 30-year-old wife, Keaira...

A mom of three was executed in front of her kids less than 24 hours after her estranged husband was sprung from jail on no bail over a caught-on-camera beatdown she’d posted to her Facebook page in a desperate plea for help. The shocking case — in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s western New York hometown — has sparked fresh outrage to New York’s no-cash-bail laws and to the governor and fellow Democrats for refusing to repeal them. Adam Bennefield, 45, who has a prior conviction for kidnapping another ex at gunpoint, is now charged with shooting dead his 40-year-old wife, Keaira...

Mayor Bill de Blasio sprang a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all private businesses in New York City on Monday — drawing immediate rebuke from trade groups, New York office workers and some fellow elected officials who said the backbone of the Big Apple was “blindsided” by the stunning move. De Blasio, whose mayoralty ends at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, labeled making vaccines compulsory for private businesses a “pre-emptive strike” against an expected surge in COVID infections this winter amid the emergence of the Omicron variant. ... Kathryn Wylde, head of the business group Partnership for NYC,...

A Bronx judge on Sunday night ordered the alleged Riverdale synagogue vandal be cut loose on supervised release — reversing an earlier decision by a separate jurist to hold the suspect on $20,000 bail. The suspect, 29-year-old Jordan Burnette, was granted supervised release by Judge Tara Collins in Bronx Criminal Court — hours after he was ordered held on bail on 42 charges stemming from his alleged 11-day crime spree, Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, said. Under New York State law, a suspect hit with Burnette’s charges cannot be held on bail.

Disgraced ex-pol Anthony Weiner is trying to rebuild his shattered life — by running a company that makes countertops out of broken glass. The former Democratic congressman — whose serial sexting cost him his political career and later sent him to prison — was recently named CEO of IceStone, which has a factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, The Post has learned.

SNIP Speaking during an unrelated press briefing Sunday in Midtown Manhattan, Gillibrand said she decided to finally come out against Cuomo because she felt it was important that New York be led by someone able to give the pandemic their undivided attention. “Every situation is different,” said Gillibrand, asked how the allegations against Cuomo compared to the accusations against Franken, who ultimately did resign after multiple women accused him of inappropriate physical contact. SNIP “Because of the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it’s clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners as well as...

<p>Dozens of protestors, including suspected members of the anti-fascist group Antifa, rampaged through Williamsburg over the weekend, trashing several national chain stores and spraying anti-police graffiti, according to police and sources.</p> <p>The rowdy mob marched through the Brooklyn neighborhood late Saturday, with police first receiving a 911 call at 8:20 p.m. about vandalism at an Apple Store on Bedford Avenue — where they found broken windows and the words “FTP” — typically meaning “f–k the police” in this context — spray-painted on the wall, cops said.</p>