The driver of an SUV laid on the horn as Andrew Levitt biked north on 13^th Street in Philadelphia. A few seconds later, the vehicle hit the back of his bike, destroying it and forcing Levitt to jump off to narrowly avoid injury.

“I was pretty upset,” Levitt said. “He was riding too close and crashed into me.”

The crash happened around 7 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2012, when a car parked in the designated bike lane on 13^th Street near Walnut Street forced Levitt to move into the motor vehicle lane.

• WATCH: Brand New Bikes for Kids
  

Even more upsetting forthe 34-year-old cyclist - he reported crash to the police when it occurred, but it didn’t appear on the bike crash map unveiled by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia in December.

“I hoped it would provide some impetus to enforce laws not to park in the bike lanes,” Levitt said. “But the main reason I wanted [to report it] is so it would show up on these maps.”

The interactive map shows the locations of reported bike crashes in Philadelphia between 2007 and 2012 based on data the Philadelphia Police Department turned over to PennDOT, said Nicholas Mirra, the Bicycle Coalition’s communications coordinator. 

Tyler Dahlberg, a graduate student studying geographic information science at Clark University, partnered with the Bicycle Coalition as part of the Summer of Maps project from Azavea, a Philly-based geospatial analysis firm.

Police are required by law to turn over all reported crashes that involve “death, injury and/or damage to any one vehicle to such an extent that it cannot be driven from the scene without further damage and therefore requires towing” to PennDOT, according to the Pennsylvania’s Police Officers Crash Report Manual. 

“My vehicle was completely destroyed by their vehicle,” said Levitt, who was forced to replace his $200 bike. But, clearly, no tow truck was called to haul off his damaged ride.

"I put the bike in the trunk of a cab," Levitt said.

The SUV only incurred minor damage and no one was hurt, which means means police did not have to report the crash to PennDOT.

“If a bicycle is a vehicle in other parts of the law, it should be treated like a vehicle when it is damaged, Mirra said.

“Just because you don’t need a tow truck to remove a damaged bike from a scene of a crash doesn’t mean that is not an inoperable vehicle,” he added.  “The emphasis on the mechanics of moving the bicycle misses the point and leads to worse data on crashes, which hurts everybody.”

The police department, PennDOT and the Bicycle Coalition were unable to estimate how many reported crashes the map could be missing. Levitt was one of several cyclists who mentioned on the Bicycle Coalition's blog or on Twitter that their reported crash didn't make the map.

The nonprofit anticipated somewhat incomplete data since many crashes go unreported or some may be incorrectly recorded as a pedestrian-vehicle crash, Mirra said.

But the idea that reported crashes are not making their way to those overseeing transportation issues in the city and the state is disappointing, he added.

“It is in everyone’s best interest to get the best information we can on where crashes happened and why,” he said.

And Levitt agrees. “If we are going to be held to the standard of a vehicle,” he said, “we should be able to enjoy all the privileges of that.”

A PennDOT spokeswoman acknowledged that the additional data may help with analysis, but it is up to legislators to revise the law’s language.

“This is an example of our laws and our thinking about transportation needing to catch up to the reality in the streets,” Mirra said.

Chris Christie
At the time of the September 2013 George Washington Bridge toll closures, Christie, a 51-year-old Republican, was on his way to a landslide November re-election victory over Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono. The eventual 22-point win in a largely Democratic state propelled Christie to the top of the list of potential Republican presidential candidates for 2016. He has framed that appeal as a result of his cooperation with members of the political opposition — and his image as a blunt-talking executive who is unafraid to make difficult decisions. The bridge scandal threatens to damage that reputation.

A former corporate lawyer, Christie first got into politics as a fundraiser for President George H.W. Bush. He ran for state senate and lost, but was later elected to the Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He ran for state Assembly and lost, then lost his bid for re-election to the county board.

Christie's political rise began after he returned to private practice and raised money for President George W. Bush, who nominated him to serve as New Jersey's U.S. attorney. He became a modern-day Eliot Ness, taking down dozens of corrupt politicians, including Gov. James McGreevey and Newark Mayor Sharpe James. Even then, he was accused of being a bully, and of awarding friends and allies with public contracts. In 2009, he upset billionaire incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

As governor, Christie made a reputation of slashing spending, antagonizing labor unions and attacking critics in town hall meetings, which his staff recorded for his official YouTube page. Those performances burnished his national profile. In 2012, he gave the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention.

On Thursday, seeking to tamp down the bridge scandal, Christie held a press conference in which he was uncharacteristically contrite and apologetic, saying he'd known nothing in advance about the toll closures, and had been misled about the involvement of members of his staff. Later in the day, he visited Fort Lee to apologize personally.

Bridget Anne Kelly

Kelly, 41, is the author of the most infamous email from the bridge scandal: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

She lives in suburban Bergen County, where Fort Lee is located. At the time of the scandal, she served as Christie's deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, earning $114,000 a year. The governor fired her this week.

Christie appointed Kelly to the post in April, promoting her from an administration position in which she served as his liaison to local elected officials. Before that, Kelly handled outreach between Christie's office and the state legislature. Her prior government jobs were assisting state lawmakers.

David Wildstein

Wildstein, the official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who frequently corresponded with Kelly about the Fort Lee traffic problem, wrote in a text message that the students unable to get to school during the traffic jam "are the children of Buono voters," a reference to the Democratic lawmaker who ran against Christie last year.

Wildstein attended Livingston High School with Christie in the late 1970s. He briefly served as Livingston's mayor a decade later, then went into private business. He was not well known in New Jersey politics until the bridge scandal unfolded; he joined the Port Authority soon after Christie's first election — hired by Bill Baroni, a top Christie adviser who served as the agency's deputy executive director. When the $215,000-a-year appointment was announced, Wildstein was outed as the long-anonymous man behind a popular political gossip site called PolitickerNJ.

Wildstein's title was director of interstate capital projects, a position that drew little public scrutiny — until the scandal exposed him. Although he resigned in December from the Port Authority, Wildstein was called Thursday to testify to a state legislative committee, where he refused to answer questions.

Bill Baroni

Baroni, 42, one of Christie's most trusted confidantes, earned $289,667 a year as the Port Authority's deputy executive director until he stepped down last month amid the escalating bridge scandal. Christie had given Baroni the job soon after taking office in 2010.

Baroni arrived at the agency after seven years in the state Legislature, where he represented parts of central New Jersey. He is a Republican, but had a reputation for bipartisan dealmaking, and was popular among members of both parties.

He met Christie in the mid-1990s, when Christie was running for a spot on a county freeholder board. They became friends and by the time Christie was elected governor, Baroni was one of his highest-profile and most loyal aides.

Bill Stepien

Stepien, Christie's campaign manager, participated in the email and text-message chains that exposed the toll closures as politically motivated. At one point, he emailed Wildstein to call the mayor of Fort Lee "an idiot."

When he wasn't running Christie's campaigns, Stepien served as a deputy chief of staff in Trenton, and is credited for the idea of Christie's highly popular series of town-hall meetings.

Before joining Christie, Stepien worked on the presidential campaigns of Sen. John McCain and former Mayor Giuliani. He also managed several local New Jersey races, including Baroni's successful campaign for state Senate. Until this week, Stepien was in line to head the state Republican Party.

That opportunity vanished this week, after the emails became public, and Christie asked Stepien to withdraw himself from consideration. He also said he asked Stepien to withdraw from his position as a consultant to the Republican Governors Association, which Christie chairs.

Mark Sokolich

Sokolich, 49, is the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, the town on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge.

As trafficked stalled for hours at the bridge when the lanes were closed, it also clogged the streets of his tiny municipality. On Sept. 10, Sokolich, a lawyer, pleaded for help from Baroni in a text message. A couple days later, Sokolich asserted that the lane closures were "punitive." That claim marked the beginnings of a scandal that would grow over the next several weeks.

After the emails became public, Sokolich told MSNBC that Wildstein "deserves an a-- kicking."

On Thursday, Christie apologized to Sokolich and Fort Lee and said he would visit the town that day to deliver the message personally. Sokolich said he appreciated it, but the visit would be premature because there are so many outstanding questions. Christie went anyway.

David Samson

Samson, 74, Christie's handpicked chairman of the Port Authority, is a former New Jersey attorney general, having served in the administration of Democratic Gov. James McGreevey. He was Christie's 2009 campaign lawyer, and headed the governor-elect's transition committee.

Samson was pulled into the bridge scandal by an Wildstein email to Kelly that was made public this week. In the email, Wildstein mentioned the lifting of the toll closures after five days by a New York appointee to the Port Authority. "The New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning," Wildstein wrote Kelly on Sept. 13. "We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate."

In response, Samson said he was "extremely upset and distressed" over the emails. He denied having any knowledge of the closures until they were lifted.

SEPTA customers may think they have seen it all, but this Sunday riders can expect an eyeful.

Passengers will go pantsless while taking the Broad Street and Market Frankford subway lines for two hours as part of the 13th annual No Pants Subway Ride.

"Our riders seem to get a laugh out of it," said Andrew Busch, a SEPTA spokesman.

The Philadelphia Urban Playground is organizing the local event, which will take place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

At least 58 people plan on exposing their thighs while riding the train Sunday, according to a Facebook page for the event.

Urban Playground is instructing anyone interested in participating to gather at the southwest corner of Broad and Arch streets. From there, the still-clothed crowd will head to the City Hall subway stop to board the Broad Street Line towards AT&T Station.

Once inside a car, they'll drop trou.

The pants-free passengers will circle back north on the orange line, then transfer to the blue line at City Hall. They'll head eastbound to the Frankford Transportation Center, where they will wrap up the ride and their legs.

Urban Playground warns all participants to "please wear underwear" while riding sans slacks.

Busch says the eye-catching event has not caused any problems in previous years, but security will step in if the partakers take it too far.

SEPTA employees will remain dressed, he added.

Philadelphia is one of more than 50 cities participating in the worldwide event.

Improv Everywhere, a New York-based prank collective, launched the pantsless public transit ride in New York in 2002. The group had a simple mission when they created the No Pants Subway Ride - to make others laugh and smile.

A family was duped Friday when two men posed as utility workers to gain access to their home and steal their valuables.

The suspects pretended to be water department employees as they knocked on doors along South 20th Street near Shunk Street, according to police.

Officers say residents of a home on the 2500 block of South 20th Street permitted the men to enter their house around 3 p.m. Friday after the suspects said they needed to check the water pressure.

While one of the two victims was in the basement monitoring the water, the other is distracted by one of the two alleged robbers, according to reports.

Next, police say, the second suspect then headed to the second floor of the home to steal from the couple.

Officers describe the suspects as about 5-feet 10-inches tall  with thin builds.  Both were approximately 30 years old and were wearing uniforms and baseball caps with a check mark on it.

Neither victim was hurt during the home invasion.

The home invasion comes as Philadelphia City Council plans to hold a hearing later this month to discuss whether policies need to be changed to make it more difficult for fraudulent utility workers from getting into people's homes.

"It’s not enough to merely broadcast concerns and stories about utility worker impersonators. Perhaps policies need to change," Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr. said in a statement on Friday.

"In any case, residents and seniors in particular should be aware of ways to validate the identity of workers who want access to their homes, whether by asking for a valid identification card or by contacting the utility company," he said.

The impersonations aren't only taking place in the city. Just a few days ago, homeowners in Upper Merion Township were tricked by robbers posting as utility workers.

The Golden Globes airs on NBC this Sunday. The awards are the focus of the night, but the fashion is the highlight. Who will hit the mark on the red carpet and who will miss it? 

EVERYTHING GOLDEN GLOBES

NBC10 First Alert Weather meteorologist and fashionista Brittney Shipp is hosting a Google+ Hangout to usher in the fashion on Hollywood's big awards night. The Google+ Hangout will air right here on NBC10.com starting at 7 p.m., for about a half hour, on Sunday evening.

Shipp will be talking red carpet fashion with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Jenice Armstrong, local jeweler Jane Makransky of Mack & Jane Jewelry and hair stylist Kevin Gatto of Verde Salon in Collingswood.

GOLDEN GLOBES: OLD GUARD VS. NEW

The Hangout participants will be watching social media to see who's saying what 'real-time' on Twitter. Join in on the fun! Follow NBC10 on Twitter here. Tweet NBC10 and the hangout experts your fashion opinions from your living room.

Contact Sarah Glover at 610-668-5580, sarah.glover@nbcuni.com or follow @skyphoto on Twitter.

Prosecutors have charged a 14-year-old boy with the murder of another teen as the manhunt for him continues.

The teenage boy, whose name police are withholding since he is a juvenile, allegedly opened fire on two other boys on Wednesday afternoon near Route 30 and Virginia Ave. in Atlantic City, N.J., the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said.

13-year-old Angel Mercado-Santiago, a 7th grader from Pennsylvania Avenue School, was shot in the chest and later died at the hospital, officials said. The other boy, a 15-year-old, was hit in the leg. He is expected to survive.

County prosecutors say the alleged teenage shooter remains on the loose. Still, prosecutors preemptively charged the teen with murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.

Once taken into custody, prosecutors say they plan to file a petition to have the 14-year-old's case transferred to an adult criminal court.

The murder remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office's Major Crimes Unit at 609.909.7666.

A man angry over an expired coupon tossed a large cup of hot coffee into the face of a Dunkin' Donuts employee.

According to Philadelphia Police, the man frequents the store at North Broad Street and Wyoming Avenue in the Logan section of the city.

Earlier this week the man, who employees know as "Will" walked into the store and ordered a coffee. He tried using an expired coupon to pay for the coffee but wasn’t allowed to since the coupon expired, according to investigators.

After paying for the cup of coffee, "Will" got into a verbal argument with the woman behind the counter, investigators said.

During the argument, “Will” began to leave the store but as he walked towards the door he turned back around and thrusted his cup of hot liquid into the worker’s face.

The woman was treated at an area hospital for coffee burns and some problems with her eyes that persisted days later.

The entire incident was captured on surveillance video.

Police hope that someone knows who “Will” is and that they will alert detectives. 

The wintry mix and icy road conditions caused problems for emergency vehicles including a fire truck and a salt truck Friday.

A salt truck overturned on Tenby Chase Drive near North Drive In Delran, N.J. after hitting a large patch of black ice around 8 a.m., according to police. The driver suffered minor injuries.

A second accident in New Jersey left a firefighter hurt after the truck lost control on the icy roads.

The Tabernacle Fire Company was responding to a call when its truck lost control and hit at least three other vehicles on Route 206 near milepost 16.2 in Southhampton, according to police.

The driver suffered injuries to his neck and back, but officials say they are not serious.

The accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. A slew of crashes caused by icy road conditions throughout the region Friday.

Residents of one Philadelphia neighborhood say water has been pouring out of a broken fire hydrant for days – even though they’ve made dozens of calls to the city to have the problem fixed.

Water has been spewing out of the open plug on the 4500 block of North 12th Street in the Hunting Park section of the city since Wednesday, according to residents who live on the block.

“We had a fire over there. The fire company broke the [hydrant] and they said they were gonna call the city and they never came out. And there’s been gallons and gallons of water coming out of here,” said Vincent Mathews who lives across the street from the fire plug.

But Mathews says no one came. With water flooding the street and concerns about ice amid the freezing temperatures, he and his neighbors began to make dozens of calls to the Philadelphia Water Department. Each time, they were told someone would come out to take care of it, but the water kept on flowing.

“They’re saying they know about it, they’re sending a crew out to address the problem. That’s been since Wednesday,” said Brenda May, who says she’s made five calls herself.

The Philadelphia Fire Department confirms crews responded to a fire on the block Wednesday night and that there was a problem with one of the fire hydrants. But, fire officials could not say whether fire crews broke the hydrant or if the water department was notified.

NBC10 also made calls to city departments over the past two days -- to no avail.

Our first call was to the Philadelphia Fire Department on Thursday. A fire department employee said someone would be sent out to take care of the issue. But with the problem still persisting on Friday, NBC10 again called fire officials. With that second call, another staffer said it was the Philadelphia Water Department who needed to fix the problem.

A water department employee told NBC10 that they would add the hydrant to their list. However, as of Friday night, the water continued to gush.

“We’re really sad. It’s a sad situation, because any other neighborhood they would rush in,” said Mathews. “We’re very forgotten. There’s no reason for this.”

Water department spokeswoman Laura Copeland said on Friday night that this week’s extreme cold and snow has increased the amount of emergency repair responses. She said the hydrant is on the repair list and is being made a priority.

May says she understands that the weather may have slowed down the water department’s response time, but believes the continued flow could undermine the street and neighboring homes.

“There should be enough manpower, at least when you have a hydrant spewing gallons of water out at a time, that should be a top priority and should have been addressed before now,” she said.

As of 11 p.m. Friday, the water continued to spew from the hydrant. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and provide an update.

Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter.

Philadelphia Police are searching for an alleged "swiss cheese pervert."

On Thursday, the Mayfair Town Watch posted a photo of the suspect on their Facebook page. According to the Town Watch, the man is driving around several neighborhoods and exposing himself to women while offering them money to “watch him put swiss cheese on his privates.”

The Town Watch describes the suspect as a heavy-set white male between the ages of 40 and 50. They also say he is driving a newer model silver sedan but has also been spotted in a black model sedan.

NBC10 contacted the Special Victim’s Unit who confirmed the Town Watch’s report. A spokesperson says they are currently investigating and looking for victims.

If you have any information on the suspect, please call the Special Victims Unit at 215-685-3251.

Also on NBC10.com:

• Ex-Pa. Official Charged With Sexual Harassment
• Man Accused of Rubbing Genitals on Bank Employee
• Man Flashes Woman While Jogging: Police

Officials are investigating a house fire that killed a father and son in Northeast Philadelphia.

The fire broke out around 9 a.m. at a home on the 12000 block of Salina Place. Firefighters brought the flames under control at 9:37 a.m.

Firefighters found two unresponsive people inside the dining room of the home when they searched inside. They were both pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say they were a father and son though they have not yet released their names or ages.

Neighbors tell NBC10 that the father was disabled.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the fire though they say it began in the living room of the house. They also say that there were many items inside the home which made it difficult to get around.

The American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania announced it will hand out smoke alarms and fire safety information in the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood Monday afternoon with the fire department and Red Paw.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.
 

Two people were hurt when a train crashed into their car Saturday.

The train was backing into an oil yard near the 400 block of Post Road in Trainer, Delaware County when it hit the vehicle, according to reports.

One passenger in the car was heavily trapped, while the other was able to free themself from the vehicle, according to officials.

Both were transported with non-life threatening injuries to Crozer Chester Medical Center.

Stay with NBC10.Com for more on this developing story.

Officers from the Pennsylvania Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals rescued more than a dozen animals from a Philadelphia home Saturday.

The PSPCA's humane law encorcement officers removed 18 cats and one dog in a house on the 7400 block of Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philly, according to reports.

The animals and the house was "covered in feces," according to George Bengal, director of humane law enforcement.

Officials say they anticipate bringing animal cruelty charges against the owner.

Police arrested a woman for stealing elderly women's purses from shopping carts in Delaware this week.

Authorities say 27-year-old Elise Clark removed an 81-year-old woman's purse from her shopping cart in an Acme grocery store at 1900 block of Concord Pike, Wilmington, around 4 p.m. Monday while the victim was removing an item from a shelf.

The next day Clark commmitted a similar theft when she took a purse from a shopping cart at a Pathmark at 3900 block of Lancaster Pike, Wilmington, as the victim was retrieving milk from the dairy case, according to officials.

The suspect used both of the victims' credit cards before officers took her into custody, according to reports.

Clark faces multiple charges, including drug possession after officers found heroin, crack cocaine and other drug paraphernalia in her home during the arrest.