Suit vs. city in Met-North fire
THE MTA plans to sue the city for the massive May blaze at an East Harlem plant nursery that scorched the Metro-North tracks above Park Ave. in East Harlem.
The state-run agency filed a notice of claim Wednesday, seeking damages citing the city’s “carelessness, recklessness and negligence” for allowing explosive and flammable material to be stored under the elevated tracks.
The blaze was started by fuel that accidentally spilled on a hot generator, officials said.
MTA officials said the city has been cooperating with it to ensure flammable materials were not being stored under the tracks.
“The situation, while it may not be perfect, is significantly mitigated,” said David Mayer, the MTA’s chief safety officer.
The city Law Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. THE MAN who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan will be sprung from a Washington psychiatric hospital, a federal judge decided Wednesday.
John Hinckley, 61, has been deemed mentally fit to live with his mom in Virginia, more than 35 years after he shot Reagan and three others outside a Washington hotel.
In his 103-page decision, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said that doctors have long agreed that Hinckley is no longer plagued by the mental illness that drove him to shoot Reagan in a maniacal effort to impress actress Jodie Foster.
“It is fair to say the lives of few people have been scrutinized with the care and detail that John Hinckley’s has been,” Friedman wrote.
For more than 27 years, “Mr. Hinckley, by all accounts, has shown no signs of psychotic symptoms, delusional thinking, or any violent tendencies.”
Hinckley — who suffers from arthritis and high blood pressure — could be back home fulltime as soon as Aug. 5.
The surprise ruling drew sharply divided responses from Reagan’s children.
“My father did more than say the Lord’s Prayer. He lived it in forgiving John Hinckley Jr.,” tweeted Michael Reagan, the former President’s oldest son.
“Maybe we should do the same.”
Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis, in an 851-word blog post, recounted her horror over the shooting and noted that Hinckley was for a time corresponding with mass murderers Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
“I’m not surprised by this latest development, but my heart is sickened,” she wrote.
The failed assassin’s release comes with heavy restrictions.
He must carry a cell phone that tracks his movements, work or volunteer for at least three days a week and can drive on his own only within 30 miles of his mother’s home in Williamsburg, where he must live for the first year.
Hinckley became one of America’s most notorious figures after he opened fire on Reagan outside the Washington Hilton Hotel on March 30, 1981.
In addition to wounding the Gipper, Hinckley shot Reagan’s press secretary, James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and Washington Police Officer Thomas Delahanty.
Brady suffered permanent brain damage and died in 2014.
To the shock of the nation, a jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982.
The deranged college dropout was ordered confined at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, where he attempted suicide in 1983.
Since 2003, Hinckley has been permitted to leave St. Elizabeth’s and visit with his family, though not overnight.
He has developed numerous hobbies — including painting and playing the guitar — and has gone bowling and made friends with two photographers in Williamsburg, according to court documents.
The court said it will pay particularly close attention to his relationships with women. Documents indicate Hinckley had a friendship with a woman who suffered from mental illness, though he acted “as an anchor and advocate for her.”
Former Secret Service Agent Danny Spriggs, who was guarding Reagan the day of the shooting, expressed dismay over the ruling.
“It’s very disappointing and unfortunate,” Spriggs, now the vice president of global security for The Associated Press, told the Daily News. “The thing that concerns me most is it puts additional pressure on the Secret Service and other authorities to monitor his whereabouts.”