Sunday evening, a suspected assassin was killed by a local police officer after a high-speed police chase through the streets of New York.
Pierre Jeantot, 36, was suspected to be associated with a crime syndicate that had been laying the groundwork for a major heroin shipment from France to New York City. He began firing shots at New York City Police Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle, killing one elderly pedestrian in his attempt at Doyle's life.
Doyle pursued Jeantot from the 35th St. Station to the 15th St. Station in a commandeered car, while Jeantot hijacked the train, holding the conductor at gunpoint and commanding him to not stop the train.
In his attempt to maintain control of the train, Jeantot killed three others, including a police officer, a conductor, and a trainman who suffered a heart attack at the controls.
Sunday's events were recorded on video, obtained by the New York Times through a Freedom of Information request. Seen in the video, the chase began as Doyle returned from work, only to be caught under fire, seeing the assassin on the rooftop as Betty B. Badluck collapsed into his arms, a bullet in her back.
Narrative:
As the shots rang out, Doyle quickly took cover behind a tree, shouting warnings to the panicked citizens surrounding the area. The cries of Badluck's infant granddaughter could be heard amid the screams.
Doyle quickly sprinted up the stairs toward the roof, gun drawn, but upon his arrival, he found no assassin, just an abandoned rifle and multiple shell casings littering the ground. From his vantage point, he could see the assassin dashing across the street, nervously looking behind his back.
The pursuit continued as Doyle chased Jeantot down the street, determinedly keeping up his pace. At the train station at Bay Street, Jeantot found refuge on the train. Doyle scanned the crowd and watched as Jeantot boarded from the other side of the tracks. Doyle shouted a warning at the conductor, but the conductor appeared not to have heard him.
Alarmed by the assassin's near escape, Doyle attempted to flag down passing cars, only succeeding when a maroon car pulled over, and the driver reluctantly gave up his car to the officer. Now mobile, Doyle tore off after the train.
Meanwhile, on the train, Jeantot was panicking. He made his way through the cars, chased by Roland Evans, a 15-year veteran of the New York City Police Department. Jeantot, nearing the conductor, whipped out his gun and shot Evans, escaping into the car with the conductor, Pete Howe of Queens. Holding his gun to his head, he commanded him to keep the train going.
As Doyle neared the 25th Avenue Station, he abandoned his car and watched in horror as the train did
not make its anticipated stop, but instead rushed by. Passengers both on the platform and the train knew something was wrong.
Doyle returned to his car and sped off after the train. He wove in and out of traffic, frantically honking his horn to warn oncoming cars. Then, Doyle's car was crashed into by a careless driver, but it did not deter him. After a moment of swerving, Doyle corrected his path and continued on his way, a crumpled fender as evidence to the collision.
Doyle sped down the busy street, nicking the side of a truck and nearly dodging a woman and her baby in his path, crashing into a graffiti covered wall. He plowed through intersections, missing the oncoming cars by inches.
On the train Horatio C. Hornblower, backed by passengers on the train, attempted to reason with Jeantot.
“You're not going to get away with this,” he told Jeantot. “So just put the gun down.”
Moments later, he was shot by Jeantot. Howe, at the controls, suffered a heart attack, causing the train to surge out of control. Panic spread throughout the train as it neared a stopped train at the upcoming station. There was not enough time; the trains collided.
Once the train was completely halted, a dazed Jeantot desperately tried to escape the train. Doyle, who watched from below the elevated railway station, as the assassin tiptoed across the tracks.
From the bottom of the steps of the platform, Doyle and the assassin came face to face. Doyle held Jeantot at gunpoint, and once Jeantot tried one more time to escape up the stairs, Doyle shot him in the back.
Then, the pandemonium surrounding the area began.
End Narrative
'It is always unfortunate when these incidents end in a loss of life,' said Ruth L. Ess, the New York City Police commissioner. However, Doyle's use of deadly force was justified under the circumstances.
'We commend Detective Doyle for his bravery and quick thinking under very trying circumstances,' Ess continued to say.
Ess believes that Doyle was close to a breakthrough on the case and promises that investigation regarding Jeantot’s connection to the drug syndicate will be continued. Two men thought to be involved are being sought out now.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday April 12
Weird thing I noticed today- that the times actually has a section saying what is online. It’s almost as if it’s pointing out that there are some things that the print newspaper is unable to deliver, so it directs people online instead. Today it is a video about the hunt for Joseph Kony in Uganda. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this. I mean, obviously there are things that the internet can do that a newspaper can’t (video for example) but to advertise that fact so blatently seems weird to me. It’s almost as if it’s saying “You don’t even really need to buy this print copy, just go online and you’ll get this entire paper and extra videos!” And they got me- I do want to go online and see this video for myself.
Weird thing I noticed today- that the times actually has a section saying what is online. It’s almost as if it’s pointing out that there are some things that the print newspaper is unable to deliver, so it directs people online instead. Today it is a video about the hunt for Joseph Kony in Uganda. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this. I mean, obviously there are things that the internet can do that a newspaper can’t (video for example) but to advertise that fact so blatently seems weird to me. It’s almost as if it’s saying “You don’t even really need to buy this print copy, just go online and you’ll get this entire paper and extra videos!” And they got me- I do want to go online and see this video for myself.
Thursday April 8
Is it just me, or does it seem like so many stories have this undertone of the economy? Obviously it’s a big deal, but just thinking back at all the newspaper’s I’ve read over the course of this semester, it is obvious what is big news and what the American public wants to hear about. It’s interesting how looking at the news for this long makes us be able to find overall themes to the news- the war, the economy etc. It makes us be able to see what the “big stories” of the world are in the view of the media, if not in general. I just found it curious how I could read the headline “United is in talks about a merger with US Airways” and know exactly what the reason was, and what the bigger picture behind that story was.
Is it just me, or does it seem like so many stories have this undertone of the economy? Obviously it’s a big deal, but just thinking back at all the newspaper’s I’ve read over the course of this semester, it is obvious what is big news and what the American public wants to hear about. It’s interesting how looking at the news for this long makes us be able to find overall themes to the news- the war, the economy etc. It makes us be able to see what the “big stories” of the world are in the view of the media, if not in general. I just found it curious how I could read the headline “United is in talks about a merger with US Airways” and know exactly what the reason was, and what the bigger picture behind that story was.
Wednesday April 7
I absolutely loved the article about the Palestinians. It was new, relevant, and downright interesting, especially when the Palestinian extremist groups have been known to resort to violence. I am very interested to see how this will play out. The article about the mines was something new, and I think this is the way that a lot of news stories should play out. Instead of finding one little fact about the actual story (ex. one miner, his wife etc) the paper focuses its attention on the bigger issue instead of just finding some other little thing about the case to turn into a big story. They hit what is at the heart of the issue, rather than just focus all their attention on the story at hand. It’s still relevant, but it’s not boring for a reader.
I absolutely loved the article about the Palestinians. It was new, relevant, and downright interesting, especially when the Palestinian extremist groups have been known to resort to violence. I am very interested to see how this will play out. The article about the mines was something new, and I think this is the way that a lot of news stories should play out. Instead of finding one little fact about the actual story (ex. one miner, his wife etc) the paper focuses its attention on the bigger issue instead of just finding some other little thing about the case to turn into a big story. They hit what is at the heart of the issue, rather than just focus all their attention on the story at hand. It’s still relevant, but it’s not boring for a reader.
Tuesday April 6
I’m a little confused why the attack on the US Consulate in Pakistan is front page, picture worthy news. Maybe it was a much bigger deal than I am aware of, but it seemed like a bit of a reach, especially since the militants didn’t even breach the outer perimeter. I like being updated on my news about what’s going on, but I don’t know, this one just gave me the feeling like it was a stretch for news and an attempt to make America look good because of their “win” in this….would you call it a battle?
I’m a little confused why the attack on the US Consulate in Pakistan is front page, picture worthy news. Maybe it was a much bigger deal than I am aware of, but it seemed like a bit of a reach, especially since the militants didn’t even breach the outer perimeter. I like being updated on my news about what’s going on, but I don’t know, this one just gave me the feeling like it was a stretch for news and an attempt to make America look good because of their “win” in this….would you call it a battle?
Wednesday, March 31
Overall, I thought this paper had a lot of great articles, none of which were really more or less important than the next, but pretty solid throughout. I was surprised that the article about E-Books made the front page, interesting though it was, but to me didn’t seem exactly like pressing, front page material. I did like the way it was set up with the personal story in the beginning. I thought the article about the colliding particles was introduced in a great way, with the picture of the scientist drinking champagne. This detail shows what exactly a big deal it is, and what it means to the scientists involved in it.
Overall, I thought this paper had a lot of great articles, none of which were really more or less important than the next, but pretty solid throughout. I was surprised that the article about E-Books made the front page, interesting though it was, but to me didn’t seem exactly like pressing, front page material. I did like the way it was set up with the personal story in the beginning. I thought the article about the colliding particles was introduced in a great way, with the picture of the scientist drinking champagne. This detail shows what exactly a big deal it is, and what it means to the scientists involved in it.
Tuesday, March 30
I noticed that in this paper there was an example of striving to make the significant news interesting and relevant in the headline “Female suicide bombers strike at Moscow subway”. The word “female” makes the article immediately much more interesting than it may have been originally, because we typically expect suicide bombers to be predominantly male. Instead, the Times has an attention grabbing headline that causes more people to read the article because of the interesting twist they put on delivering the story.
I noticed that in this paper there was an example of striving to make the significant news interesting and relevant in the headline “Female suicide bombers strike at Moscow subway”. The word “female” makes the article immediately much more interesting than it may have been originally, because we typically expect suicide bombers to be predominantly male. Instead, the Times has an attention grabbing headline that causes more people to read the article because of the interesting twist they put on delivering the story.
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