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Cop Caught Napping in Terrorist-Target Subway Station
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 5, 2010
Modified Mar 5, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 5, 2010
Modified Mar 5, 2010
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Not a good day for a drowsy NYPD officer assigned to monitor a subway platform under Grand Central Terminal. Yesterday morning a WPIX reporter was on his way home from the graveyard shift when he spotted the officer sleeping—or "cooping," in the NYPD parlance for cop sleeping on the job—in one of those high security "fishbowls" on the 7 train platform. As you may recall, Grand Central is one of the places Al Qaeda operative Najibullah Zazi planned to bomb. Not an ideal place to doze off when you're working security.
The WPIX reporter took a bunch of photos (but no video?!), and the news show reports that the unidentified officer was "nodding off for about 30 seconds, tried to wake up and then fell fast asleep." NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne released a statement explaining, "The NYPD is investigating whether an officer, who experienced a death in the family overnight, fell asleep on duty the following morning." Which is sad, but, unfortunately, the terrorists trying to kill us aren't going to postpone an attack because one of our security guys had a bad night. Video below:
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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