Jimmy Binns -- local attorney, actor, plaque dedicator and all around man-for-all-seasons -- turned quite a few heads earlier today when he appeared at a kick-off rally for the 3rd Annual Hero Thrill Show dressed as a Highway Patrol cop.
Daily News photographer Dave Maialetti snapped a few pics of Binns -- sporting a helmet and sidearm -- riding around City Hall with real Highway Patrol officers. My editors peppered me with a host of questions: Was that a real gun? Is he allowed to dress like a cop? How come the cops never let you ride a motorcycle?
The short answer goes something like this: Binns was made an "honorary deputy commissioner" by former commish Sylvester Johnson. He's the driving force behind the frequent plaque dedications for fallen cops and firefighters and has donated quite a few shiny new cycles to the police department over the years. "He's does a lot for us," a police source said, "but I'm not sure who told him to dress up."
If nothing else, the afternoon ride along generated a bit of attention for the Thrill Show, which will be held Sept. 6 outside the Wachovia Center.
Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.
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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.
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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.
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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.
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