Latest news with #LeonardJohnson
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
She Allegedly Sprayed an N.Y.C. Bus Driver in the Face and Vanished — Now Police Are Asking for Help to ID Her
The unknown woman allegedly sprayed an "unknown substance" into the face of a bus driver, say police The attack was one of multiple assaults on MTA employees in May'Crime is down overall this year on subways and buses, but any assault on our employees is intolerable,' MTA spokesperson Lucas Bejarano saidNew York City police are searching for a woman accused of assaulting a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus driver. According to the New York City Police Department, the suspect sprayed an 'unknown substance' into the face of a 33-year-old bus driver onboard a BX-10 MTA bus, in the vicinity of Bainbridge Avenue and Van Cortlandt Avenue East in the Bronx around 8:40 a.m. on Monday, May 19. 'The individual then fled the location to parts unknown,' according to a police press release. 'The victim was transported to Montefiore Medical Center in stable condition.' The attack is just one of a series of assaults on MTA employees in May. Another assault occurred just before 9 a.m. on May 13, when a man boarded an MTA bus in the vicinity of Lorraine Street and Hicks Street in Brooklyn and got into a verbal dispute with the 71-year-old driver. 'The unidentified individual engaged in a verbal dispute with the victim, displayed a wrench and struck the victim on the forehead,' states a NYPD press suspect, described as a Black male approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and in his early 40s, wearing a black sweatshirt and tan pants, fled the area on a scooter. The victim sustained minor injuries and was taken to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in stable condition. Just over a week later, on May 22, a 55-year-old male MTA conductor was punched in the face when he poked his head out of the conductor's window while the No. 5 train was stopped at the 42 Street-Grand Central Station. On May 27, the New York City Police Department arrested Leonard Johnson, 43, on charges of second-degree assault. More recently, on May 29 just before 12:15 a.m., a 68-year-old MTA cleaner was working on the platform at Brooklyn's Bergen Street station, when a man approached him and swung a metal pipe at him. The suspect missed and then punched the worker in the chest before running off. The victim was transported by EMS to an area hospital in stable condition. 'Crime is down overall this year on subways and buses, but any assault on our employees is intolerable, which is why we're grateful the NY State legislature just changed the law to ensure perpetrators of attacks on transit workers face maximum justice,' MTA spokesperson Lucas Bejarano said. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at on X @NYPDTips. Read the original article on People
BBC News
11-03-2025
- BBC News
Harlesden campaigners alarmed at council plan for community hub
A north London campaign group has expressed alarm at a council's proposal to close a leisure and community centre, with a replacement not expected to open until 2030. Brent Council said a centre to take over from Bridge Park Community Centre in Stonebridge could take up to five years to Park was once the largest black-led community enterprise in Europe – housing business units, workshops, a sports hall and a theatre. Last year, the council announced the site would be developed as part of a wider £600m investment, and would include homes, a hotel, park, and the new leisure centre. Following a consultation late last year, residents highlighted the need for improvements to the leisure centre and community spaces but the council said the poor condition of the existing building would require at least £1.5m to restore it – which was "not a sensible use of limited funding". Residents have now been asked to take part in a new consultation, which proposes to shut the community centre as early as July 2025. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the Harlesden People's Community Council (HPCC) said they were "concerned that the consultation process may not have reached those most impacted". The group has urged Brent's black community to participate in the Phase 2 survey "to ensure your voices are heard". A brief history of Stonebridge Intended as a post-war utopia, Harlesden's Stonebridge was a high-rise, high-density housing estate. By 1981, the unemployment rate for young people on the estate was estimated to be over 50% and with no community facilities to help meet residents' needs, many turned to a life of a 25-year-old Leonard Johnson returned home from prison with a message for his community: "Let's build, not destroy".He was the driving force setting up Bridge Park, then the largest black community project in Europe. The objective was to develop self-help and community empowerment strategies to tackle deprivation in Stonebridge.A community action group was established, made up of young black people from the estate. Early activities included maths, English, drama, electronics and black history classes, all run from a small garage on the the disused Stonebridge bus garage came up for sale, Mr Johnson saw the potential of the site to provide a sports hall, cafe, workshops, IT facilities and childcare – all to be run by local was bought on behalf of the HPCC for £1.8m by Brent Council, in conjunction with the Greater London Council and the Department of the Environment. The new space contained Brent's first IT centre, a creche for working mothers on the estate, many of whom were single parents, and changing rooms to service the nearby Stonebridge Recreation third of the main shed was dedicated to providing units for local businesses. In 1996 Brent Council took over management of Bridge Park but it remained an community 2017, the site was provisionally sold to an offshore developer, sparking a legal battle over ownership between the council and the community. In 2020, the High Court declared Brent Council the "sole legal and beneficial owner of Bridge Park".In 2024, Save Bridge Park was launched, with an attempt to have the site added to the National Heritage list for HPCC HPCC listed concerns about the plans, including the lack of an IT centre, managed workspace, theatre, and music studio, all of which are currently offered at Bridge Park."These are key resources that support local youth and help steer them away from crime. To exclude these facilities is to neglect the fundamental needs of the community."The group is now campaigning to have Bridge Park included on the National Heritage List for England to "help secure the necessary funding to preserve the facility and keep it as 'a vital resource for our community". Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt, said: "Bridge Park Leisure Centre is so much more than a building and we want to honour its history and build on its legacy for the next generation of residents."He added that the next phase of consultation was "about gathering feedback on the proposed closure, and transition arrangements for residents".
