NYC NOW - Midday News: Police Hunt Catamaran Pilot After East River Crash, City Officials Probe Rikers Death, Melon Season, and a Makeshift Water Park in Washington Heights

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Police are searching for the pilot of a catamaran that collided with a party boat on the East River, sending three people to the hospital with minor injuries. Meanwhile, city officials are investigating the death of a Rikers Island detainee, the eleventh in custody this year. Also, Yankees captain Aaron Judge has tied Yogi Berra for fifth on the team’s all-time home run list with his 358th career homer. Plus, GrowNYC’s Amelia Tarpey explains why melons are peaking at city farmstands, and WNYC’s Brittany Kriegstein reports on a viral water park in a Washington Heights bike lane.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. Happy Labor Day. Hope you're taking it easy if you have the day off. This is our one and only episode today. Here's your news headlines from Michael Hill. Police say they're looking for the pilot of a catamaran after he crashed the vessel into a party boat yesterday on the East River and then spayed away. The NYPD says at least three people were taking to the hospital with minor injuries. no serious injuries. Catamaran hit the party boat near the FDR drive between 23rd and 25th streets at around 2 in the afternoon. The Catamaran headed south. It's the first major crash on the East River since a Mexican Navy ship accidentally hit the Brooklyn Bridge in May, killing two sailors.

City officials are investigating the death of a Rikers Island detainee. WNMACC's Julia Haywood has more on the 11th person to die in custody this year. City correction officials say Jimmy Avila died just three days after he was arrested. The total number of people to die on Rikers Island or shortly after being released is now more than double the number of people who died in custody in all of 2024. City officials did not give details about the circumstances of Avila's death. In a statement, the Legal Aid Society, which represented Avila, said he had serious mental illness and should have been under close watch. Avela was arrested Wednesday after police said he shot three people at a Bronx apartment building. One man died from his injuries.

Yankees Captain Aaron, Judge has tied Hall of Famer catcher Yogi Berra for the fifth in team history when he hit his 358th career home run yesterday. Judge said it stung to eventually lose the game to the White Sox 3 to 2. Stay close. There's more after the break. NYC. Summer weekends may be dwindling, but you know what isn't? Summer produce. Amelia Tarpie is a program and publicity manager for GrowNYC Green Markets, and this week she says melons are particularly plentiful at local farm stands. Green markets have so many melons right now, and it's not just your typical cantaloupe and watermelon.

We just pulled the numbers, and across all of the green markets, our farmers are growing around 139 different varieties of melons. The beauty of shopping for melons at the green market is many of our farmers are growing personal watermelons or these mini melons. Let me tell you, like, getting it home, putting it in your fridge, slicing it open, and having half of a watermelon for breakfast is like the perfect August breakfast for breakfast for. me. If you're trying to pick out the perfect watermelon, the thing you're looking for is a little bit of yellowing on the underbelly of the watermelon. That's where it was sitting on the ground when it was out in the field. And then you want to give it a little knock or slap. And if it sounds kind of hollow, then you know it's going to be ready to eat. For the thinner skin melons, such as cantaloupe, you're going to want to look for the place where it was harvested from the vine. the sort of little pockmark kind of on one side of the melon and smell that. If it smells super

fragrant, then you know it's ready. If you're not getting much of a scent, then probably it needs a few more days. You can just keep it on your counter and let it rip it there. Obviously, melons are perfect for fresh eating. However, if you do want to get into some fun recipes, love a watermelon salad. Watermelon with some fresh mint, a little bit of goat. milk feta is really nice. With watermelon, a lot of times people will just throw the rinds or compost the rinds. However, you can do things with those rinds. You can pickle them or make them into kimchi for a really nice sort of sweet, crunchy snack to add to your pickle plate or throw into a Bloody Mary, all kinds of things you can do.

Tarpie says most melons are priced at about $1 to $3 a pound. A big melon for your back yard barbecue may run you upwards of $15. An unofficial water park in a Washington Heights bike lane is making a splash this summer, drawing people from all over the neighborhood after going viral on social media. WNYC's Brittany Crickstein visited the spot to learn more and took a dip in the process. That's 45-year-old Washington Heights resident Alex Rolland, who's beaming over his do-it-yourself water park at 188th Street and Laurel Hill Terrace. Kids are splashing around in bathing suits with floaties and water guns as the August sun shines overhead.

Rolon says Rio Manhattan started in late June as a fun solution to the summer heat. After someone opened up the fire hydrant on the street, flooding the bike lane, he posted a video on Instagram in which he pretends to catch a dead horseshoe crab in the stream. The video now has more than 19 million views. But that's just a fraction of the engagement Roland has built online. Part of the reason,

his on-camera energy, including the big gold chain around his neck, he seemingly wears everywhere. And then everybody was talking about this chain, the water, the weird combination of things. So I decided to do it again. We opened up the hydrant, and I said, hey, let's see if you can put floaties and make kids float down the street. The impromptu water park has become something of a neighborhood ritual. On warm days, Rolone arrives with a wagon full of pool floats and a pair of pliers. He muscles open the hydrant, throws an orange traffic barrel over the spray to push it into the air, and the street comes to life. Rolon says local officials have never shut down the setup, and police even gave him NYPD barricades so drivers would stay away from the curb. Opening street hydrants

for recreation in the city's hottest months is a century-old pastime. But it's illegal to do so unless you have a special FDNY spray cap to control the water pressure, which Roland says he does. Oh, the fire problem comes, they honk, you know, they wave.

The police are super cool about it because it's a community thing. And they see that everybody's together. We're just having fun. You know, we're not hanging out late and stuff like that. You know, we're just doing it for the kids. And when we leave, we pack up everything. As the summer winds down,

Rolone says he has some ideas for preserving the spirit of Rio Manhattan in colder temperatures. And I think we're going to turn into a skating ring and I'm going to just skate down. Ski Manhattan. Rolon says everyone is welcome to join in the fun, no matter what season it is. I can confirm as myself, the water feels great. That's WNYC's Brittany Crickstein. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. Enjoy the holiday. We'll be back on our regular schedule tomorrow.