Ralph, a local star of MTV2’s Lower East Side program, at left, who is in his second season on the show, put things in frame on Essex St. At right, on Saturday afternoon, heavily armed police officers with automatic weapons appeared out of the blue on Ludlow St. Plainclothes officers asked the photographer not to take their photos; then the police started taking the photographers’ photos, including one who used his cell phone, above. The officers didn’t say why they were there, and after they left everyone wondered what it had all been about. It may likely have been a drill, the type of which have been occurring after 9/11, in which these heavily armed units turn up suddenly at seemingly random locations, then leave just as abruptly.
thevillager.com
