Tag Archives: Brooklyn

Home & Kitchen

Brooklyn Bridge ship crash investigation underway today by federal, local agencies

New York City and federal officials have begun their investigation into why a Mexican tall ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two people. 

Videos show the moment the Cuauhtémoc’s masts hit the bridge and snapped with 277 people on board. Sailors were seen dangling from wires after the masts broke. At least 19 were hurt and two were still in critical condition after the accident, officials said Sunday. 

The Cuauhtémoc was docked at Pier 36 a day after what the Coast Guard called a “devastating tragedy.” The Coast Guard has been guiding the ship’s crew on repairs and how to move it safely from the area.

The Mexican navy said the collision happened at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday as the vessel was departing the South Street Seaport for Iceland. Sailors were standing on the yards along the mast for a ceremonial departure when the ship lost power, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. 

The damaged masts of the Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican Navy training ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, are seen as it sits docked at Pier 36 in lower Manhattan on May 18, 2025 in New York City. The ship, which snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark bridge, killed at least two people and injured dozens of others.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images


The tall ship drifted backward and ultimately struck the Brooklyn Bridge, snapping off the tops of the masts as some sailors clung to wires for safety. 

Officials said the Brooklyn Bridge was not structurally damaged. 

The governor of Veracruz in Mexico, Rocio Nahle, posted to social media the name of one of the victims who died. 

“I deeply regret the passing of Veracruz cadet América Yamilet Sánchez. My love, support, and solidarity go out to her family,” Nahle wrote in Spanish on social media.    

NTSB dispatching go-team to investigate crash

On Sunday morning, the National Transportation Safety Board said it was dispatching a go-team to investigate the crash. 

New York City Emergency Management held an interagency meeting regarding the crash Sunday morning that included the mayor’s office, FDNY, NYPD, the U.S. Coast Guard, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the MTA. 

“We will ensure a robust investigation and support for those impacted while maintaining the safety and security of the Port of New York,” the Coast Guard said. 

Rigging hangs from a snapped mast on the Cuauhtémoc, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in New York, a masted Mexican Navy training ship that collided with the Brooklyn Bridge the night before.

Yuki Iwamura / AP


Sen. Schumer questions if DOGE cuts played a role

In his weekly Sunday morning press conference, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer questioned whether cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, may have played a role in the incident. 

“Our hearts go out to the people of Mexico and those who lost their lives and who were injured in last night’s Brooklyn Bridge vessel crash,” Schumer said. 

The senator said a tugboat was not being used to assist the vessel as it departed, and that one arrived after. 

“We know that the Trump administration has been meddling in U.S. Coast Guard operations, from staffing to command and comms, and I have the general sense of a DOGE dysfunction in parts of the Coast Guard, to put it mildly,” Schumer said. “After being fully briefed on last night’s Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is very clear. There are many more questions than answers as to how the accident occurred and whether it could have been prevented.”

People look at the Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican Navy training ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, as it sits docked at Pier 36 in lower Manhattan on May 18, 2025 in New York City. The ship, which snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark bridge, killed at least two people and injured dozens of others.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images


Schumer said the Coast Guard has a system called vehicle traffic service, or VTS, that’s similar to how the FAA handles air traffic control. 

“There are indications that this service called the VTS may not have been fully or adequately functional in light of that hiring freeze. We don’t know the answer to that question. We need answers. If this were the case, Brooklyn Bridge accident could be a national harbinger, demanding immediate attention,” Schumer said. 

Schumer pointed to Admiral Linda Fagan’s being relieved of her duties as commandant of the Coast Guard on Jan. 21. 

“In the time since the post of commandant have been vacant without a permanent commandant nominee. Furthermore, the current hiring freeze at the Department of Homeland Security, DHS, which the Coast Guard is part of, may have limited the ability of the Coast Guard to fully staff up at the VTS, the vehicle traffic service, the shore-wide system that provides quote air traffic control for the seas, especially in congested areas and restricted waters like New York Harbor,” Schumer said. 

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a statement saying the VTS “was fully functional during the incident, operating in accordance with established procedures to manage commercial traffic and facilitate safe navigation. Our response included launching a crew from Station New York, establishing a temporary safety zone, and coordinating with NYPD, FDNY, and NYC DOT.”

Schumer said that while the bridge itself wasn’t structurally damaged, a monitoring system beneath it that operates as part of the bridge’s inspection system was damaged. 

Jesse Zanger

Jesse Zanger is the managing editor of CBSNewYork.com. Jesse has previously worked for the Fox News Channel and Spectrum News NY1. He covers regional news around the Tri-State Area, with a particular focus on breaking news and extreme weather.

Source link

Home & Kitchen

How unfair representation in film led to the creation of a Chinese film studio in Brooklyn

In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re taking a look back at how unfair representation in early Hollywood led to the creation of one of the first Chinese American film studios in the country.

Frustrations with “one-dimensional,” “demeaning” characters

Sandy Lee can trace her family’s history in America back to the late 1860s. By the 1880s, her ancestors moved from San Francisco to settle in New York City’s Chinatown and opened a business at 31 Pell St.

That same building is now an insurance company, still owned by her family.

Her grandfather, Harold Lee, became a prosperous businessman at the turn of the last century.

“He had a grocery store. He had a curio shop. He started to change people’s money and it became a foreign exchange,” she said.

In the 1920s, Chinese leaders wrote to the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, disappointed by yet another unfair portrayal of their community in film. 

“The representations of Chinese and Asians in early Hollywood were really like kind of one-dimensional and really demeaning,” said Herb Tam, Director of Exhibitions at the Museum of Chinese in America.

In response, the board told them to make their own movies if they wanted to change stereotypes. That’s when Harold and his uncle Lee Kee Do founded and financed the Great Wall Film Company in 1921.

“In the 1920s, they had a small population here, but they still had the yearning for culture and film and art,” Lee told Brooklyn reporter Hannah Kliger. 

“‘Do-it-yourself’ mentality”

The streets of the city can look almost unrecognizable more than 100 years later, but researchers say I.S. 281 Joseph B. Cavallaro along Cropsey Avenue in Gravesend now stands on the site of the former studio. Some of its early films, distributed both in the U.S. and in China, were shot out of Southern Brooklyn.

“The film company the Lee family created is really reflective of a kind of ‘do-it-yourself’ mentality, and an entrepreneurialship within Chinese-American communities,” Tam said.

The studio eventually moved to Shanghai, producing around two dozen films in a decade. Few still remain, most were lost. The company went dark with the onset of the Great Depression, but the Lee family’s impact in the world of cinema continued with the creation of the New York Chinese Film Exchange.

“My grandfather also bought a theater right on Park Row… and he renamed it the Silver Star,” Lee said. “It was a really big deal. On the weekends, you would go to the Chinese movies.”

Movies remain in the family’s blood. A 1940s photo shows Sandy’s uncle Henry Lee perched on a camera truck, shooting a news reel. Descendants include film production designers, media researchers and TV executives, still making their mark in the world of media.

Have a story idea or tip in Brooklyn? Email Hannah by CLICKING HERE.

Hannah Kliger

Hannah Kliger joined the CBS News New York team as a reporter in May 2022, focusing her coverage in Brooklyn. A native New Yorker, Hannah has received several awards for her investigative journalism about problems plaguing Brooklynites, from hate crimes to housing rental scams.

Source link