Rollerblader Climbs Globe To Advertise Rock Concert

A man wearing roller blades was arrested by police for climbing the metal globe in Columbus Circle on Sunday, according to the New York Post. Richard Fredette, 57, after making his way onto the summit of the spherical structure in the middle of the afternoon, proceeded to throw fliers advertising a rock concert. Bystander Sarah Shenfeld, 24, told the Post that the fearless Fredette “took an orange out of his pocket, held it up in the air, and then ... ate it.” Police quickly arrived at Columbus Circle in front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower and promptly booked Fredette for disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing.

Break Dancer Accidentally Causes Horse’s Death

A horse died by running into a tree after a break-dancing group’s drummer allegedly frightened her with his music, the New York Times reported. Witnesses say James Williams, a drummer for the group Two Steps Away, was playing his snare drum at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue when the horse, named Smoothie, became spooked and broke into a frantic dash that ended with a carriage wrapped around a tree and Cornelius Byrne, the owner, down one equine mammal. The carnage did not end there, however, as Smoothie in turn scared a second horse that ran into a Mercedes-Benz, according to the New York Daily News. No humans were injured. Williams, upset by the incident, denies any malice or purposeful intent. “We did not do anything malicious, like walk up and hit a drum in a horse’s ear,” he told the Times. Meanwhile, the Horse and Carriage Association of New York will hold a conference to ask the city to ban street musicians from the area and provide more secure hitching posts. Similar incidents have happened in previous years, and the Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages held a vigil for Smoothie after her death.

Grounds Worker Pees on Granny’s Grave

Itomor Khaimov, a resident of Brooklyn, who sued Washington Cemetery last year after allegedly catching a grounds worker relieving himself on his grandmother’s grave, is now claiming that the cemetery is intentionally neglecting Sonya Khanukhova’s plot, the New York Daily News reported. Khaimov was walking his dog near the cemetery on Nov. 1, 2006 when he saw James Scott “urinating upon Sonya Khanukhova’s grave,” reported Courier-Life Publications. Khaimov’s lawsuit also states Scott took pains to make sure his pee made it into “the vase at the foot of the grave.” The Daily News reported that the appalled grandson screamed the only thing any appalled family member could under the dire circumstances: “What the fuck are you doing?” Scott allegedly replied, “I’m an old man. I can’t hold it,” after which the Scott allegedly proceeded to beat Khaimov and his dog with a rake. The family is suing on the grounds of breach of contract—an “implied contract with plaintiff Yakov Khaimov [Itomor’s father] to maintain the grave of his mother ... with care” and “infliction of emotional distress.” Now Khaimov claims the cemetery is getting back at him by not maintaining his grandmother’s plot and by covering it up by stuffing sponges into the grave’s sinkholes caused by rain. “The whole [stone] is going to fall,” he told the Daily News. “Jewish people are not allowed to take someone out and rebury them. If I could, I would take her out of here even [to] a Christian cemetery, or some other religion.” Khaimov also alleges that he has been threatened to stay quiet about the incident, and that the flowers in the urn at his grandmother’s grave have gone missing.

—David Xia