[Want to get New York Today by email? Here’s the sign-up.]
It’s Tuesday.
Weather: Crisp and clear, with a high in the low to mid-60s.
Alternate-side parking: Suspended today for Sukkot.
Ever since a Connecticut banker was charged with killing a resort worker while on a family vacation in the Caribbean, he and his wife have been appealing for help with his defense.
And so when the accused man’s wife sat for an interview on Monday on Fox & Friends, a favorite show of President Trump’s, she appealed directly to the commander in chief.
“I’ve seen Trump help Americans in peril around the globe, and we really need his help,” Kallie Hapgood, 44, said.
Sure enough, Mr. Trump responded.
The president weighed in promptly on Twitter, mentioning the show and vowing to look into the case of Gavin Scott Hapgood, 44, who was charged with manslaughter after a deadly April struggle with a worker, Kenny Mitchel, 27, in a hotel room on the island of Anguilla.
“Will be looking into the Scott Hapgood case, and the Island of Anguilla,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Something looks and sounds very wrong. I know Anguilla will want to see this case be properly and justly resolved!”
The death and its contested circumstances have riled the population of the island, a British territory, and raised questions about class, privilege and the deference shown to tourists. The president’s decision to join the fray only heated things up.
[Read more about the death of the handyman in Anguilla.]
In a Facebook post, Haydn Hughes, a former member of Anguilla’s Parliament, assailed Mr. Trump.
“Donald will vacation in Anguilla. After all, all he does is tweet & take vacations,” he wrote. “Thanks for the plug Donald #anguillafirst.”
Mr. Hapgood and his family were staying at the upscale Malliouhana resort when Mr. Mitchel showed up at their hotel room claiming he was sent to fix a broken sink.
Mr. Hapgood said that he had let Mr. Mitchel enter because he was wearing a hotel uniform but that the sink was not broken and no repair had been requested.
Mr. Mitchel pulled a knife, Mr. Hapgood said, and the two men began fighting. Mr. Hapgood, a former Dartmouth College football player, quickly overpowered Mr. Mitchel and pinned him to the bathroom floor, with his forearm to Mr. Mitchel’s neck, a hotel worker told The Times this summer.
Mr. Mitchel died shortly after the struggle.
Mr. Hapgood, from Darien, Conn., was arrested three days later on the island and charged with manslaughter.
He is due back in court in Anguilla on Nov. 11.
Although a coroner initially ruled that Mr. Mitchel had been asphyxiated during the struggle, a revised autopsy report based on toxicology tests later concluded that he had lethal levels of cocaine in his system.
A Facebook page that is supportive of Mr. Mitchel welcomed the president’s involvement and criticized the Hapgoods for hiring public relations officials to win public favor.
“No innocent person needs multiple PR Firms,” reads a post put up on Monday.
Want more news? Check out our full coverage.
The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.
What we’re reading
“Hipster” beekeepers are blamed for helping create a problem in an Inwood park. [NY Post]
A truck full of dog food hit an overpass on Queens Boulevard, causing delays. [Patch]
Michael Bloomberg is still mulling a presidential run. [NY Magazine]
Two teenagers were killed and a third was injured when a Porsche fell off on overpass and landed in a fiery ball on train tracks in Rockland County. [ABC News]
Coming up today
Celebrate global street band music in the opening night of the Honk NYC! festival at the Market Hotel in Brooklyn. 8 p.m. [$15]
Watch a screening of “America and the Race Film” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 7 p.m. [$16]
Join the conversation “Missing Daddy, Missing Mommy: Talking to Children About Incarceration” at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe & Bar in Manhattan. 7 p.m. [Free]
— Melissa Guerrero
Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.
And finally: The N.Y.C. Marathon is long. So is its list of boldfacers.
It is the largest marathon in the world, and it draws the most celebrities.
Every year, the TCS New York City Marathon gets a slew of boldface names on its list of 52,000 runners.
Kevin Hart completed the race in 2017 in just over four hours, an hour better than Will Ferrell’s time in the 2001 race. Edward Norton clocked in at 3:48:01 in 2009.
Katie Holmes ran a 5:29:58 in 2007, and Pamela Anderson ran in 2013 with a time of 5:41:03; she later compared the last five miles to “giving birth and then being told to run as you’re giving birth.”
On Monday, marathon officials announced prominent entrants for the Nov. 3 race. They include actors, retired athletes, influencers and celebrity chefs.
Uzo Aduba, the star of “Orange Is the New Black,” is registered. So is Luke Kirby, an Emmy-award-winning star of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Paul Sparks, star of “Sweetbitter” and “House of Cards,” is running, as is the ABC News anchor Amy Robach — and her husband, Andrew Shue, a onetime star of “Melrose Place.”
Tiki Barber, the former New York Giants running back, is registered, as is the former Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn.
“They are reflective of the excitement that this renowned event brings,” said Michael Capiraso, president of New York Road Runners, which organizes the race.
It’s Tuesday — high-five a student.
Metropolitan Diary: VW Bug
Dear Diary:
I went to get my Volkswagen Bug to drive to work. Because alternate-side parking was in effect, it and all the other cars that were legally parked on the street had been blocked in.
The car blocking mine had no note on the windshield with information about how to reach the owner.
I honked.
A man leaned out a nearby window. A few minutes later, he came down to move his car, which was in front of the one directly next to mine.
I still couldn’t get out, because I was blocked in on the other side by a heavy wire fence around a tree that was planted there.
I kept honking.
By this time, a crowd had gathered.
“I know,” said one of the men in the group. “Get in your car.”
I did.
Six guys surrounded my car, picked it up and put it down in a way that allowed me to squeeze out.
Everyone broke into applause as I drove away.
— Louise Cooper
New York Today is published weekdays around 6 a.m. Sign up here to get it by email. You can also find it at nytoday.com.
We’re experimenting with the format of New York Today. What would you like to see more (or less) of? Post a comment or email us: nytoday@nytimes.com.
Corey Kilgannon is a Metro reporter covering news and human interest stories. He was also part of the team that won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. @coreykilgannon • Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment