Monday’s Headlines: Don’t Mess With Tony Melone Edition

We were very saddened to hear that a motorist and his thuggish passenger had beaten Friend of Streetsblog Tony Melone for the "crime" of having touched his car.

Let's let Tony tell it first:

The story goes on from there to describe how the driver and passenger were so outraged that Melone had touched their car that they chased him for five blocks — and then got out of the car and beat him. To add insult to injury (literally!), the nurse who treated Melone's wounds told him he would have beaten him, too, if Melone had touched his car.

Here's Melone's stunning conclusion (trigger warning if you don't like blood ...  or blood money, we suppose):

Many well-wishers joined us on Twitter with hopes that Melone will get well, soon, but it's worth reiterating that drivers really lose their shit if you touch their cars, even if their cars get too close, park in bike lanes, cut us off without signaling or, as they've done scores of times already this year, kill us.

In other news:

• After we repeatedly flogged our Sunday exclusive on a fiery crash that destroyed a Brooklyn war memorial — and could have killed multiple people if it hadn't happened at 4 a.m., the Daily News and Gothamist followed, albeit failing to raise the issue of how a driver with 95 speeding tickets and 25 red-light tickets could still be on the road. That said, Gothamist had good flame video.
• Here's a re-run we could do without. (NY Times)
• Longtime foe of the tourist helicopter industry, Council Member and former Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, took a doors-off FlyNYON tour out of New Jersey — and had a bad time! (NYDN)
• Like Streetsblog and a Daily News editorial covered on Friday, Gothamist on Saturday covered the latest push from Transportation Alternatives on the need for city control of its automated enforcement program and its ability to set speed limits.
• Rocco Parascandola of the Daily News had a great story about an NYPD sergeant who has cost the city $1 million in settlements for lawsuits by people who have accused him of unconstitutional street stops, illegal arrests and raids without warrants. He's been sued 46 times!
• As our friends at Open Plans have been saying, cuts to the Sanitation Department are a very bad idea. (Gothamist)
• MTA Chairman Janno Lieber allowed John Catsimatidis and Kathy Wylde to bully him on the radio about how New York City is supposedly a crime-ridden cesspool. (NY Post)
• On the plus side, at least Lieber is focusing on bus service — but would it have killed him to call for car-free bus routes (for which he needs DOT's support)? (amNY)
• Gridlock Sam wants to alert drivers that there'll be traffic near the Barclays Center this week because of a basketball tournament, though we wish he had taken the opportunity to point out that there are like 745 subway lines under the arena — and that drivers need to be reined in, not given free rein(!), at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, where a man was killed last week, as Julianne Cuba reported.
• From the assignment desk: Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers will lead her first Transportation Committee hearing at 11 a.m. today in Virtual Room 4. The subject is "Transportation Equity." Click here to watch.
• Also, it will be hot today. (NY Post)