Body of poet
A decomposed male body that police retrieved from the Hudson River off the Christopher St. Pier at 5 p.m. Mon. Oct. 10 was positively identified by the medical examiner’s office on Tuesday as Dennis Kim, 22. Kim drowned on Wednesday night Oct. 5 after jumping into the river from the pier to save a notebook of his poems that was in his knapsack, which had fallen into the water.
Kim, of Bay Ridge, was a waiter at a Midtown restaurant and planned to return to college in Vermont, according to a Daily News article. He had been leaning against a rail when his bag fell into the water and he went over the side to save it, according to friends who were with him. He swam 10 yards out, got the bag, but let it go when the current got the better of him. He cried out for help once before disappearing.
A team of Police Department divers searched until midnight and resumed at daybreak but could not find the body.
Cocaine club
Boy George, the British singer who shot to fame in the 1980s with the band Culture Club, was charged with possession of cocaine and making a false report of a burglary at his Little Italy loft after phoning 911 at 3:14 a.m. Fri. Oct. 7, police said. Police said they found George, 44, whose real name is George O’Dowd, and a woman friend both high with 14 bags of cocaine lying on a table. George was released on his own recognizance pending a Dec. 19 court date. On Sunday he took a plane to London, where he also lives part time. His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the Daily News that the charges were ridiculous and that George has many friends who might have left the cocaine in his Little Italy loft.
Saved from storm
Christopher Brooks, an E. 13th St. resident who headed out from his Long Island summer house for some fishing last Saturday evening, spent a harrowing 12 hours on the storm-tossed Long Island Sound before being rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday morning.
Brooks, 46, went out during a break in the weather at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in his 8-foot inflatable boat but the outboard motor failed about a half mile from the beach. He tried to paddle back but the wind and the rain came on strong. Then his paddle broke and he had to use a hand pump to keep air in the boat, according to a Daily News article.
At about 10 p.m. his wife, Amanda, realized something was wrong and called 911. Suffolk police met her on the beach, couldn’t locate the boat and called the Coast Guard. A rescue boat crew finally spotted Brooks’s yellow life jacket. He was treated briefly for hypothermia at a Connecticut hospital and released.
New bank hit
The North Fork Bank’s new branch on Second Ave. at E. 10th St. opened its doors on Monday morning Oct. 3 and was victimized by a robber eight days later, police said. The thief walked into the branch at about 11:30 a.m. Tues. Oct. 11, passed a threatening note to a teller and fled with an undetermined amount of cash.
Albert Amateau
