[siren wailing]
[dramatic music]
* *
[indistinct chatter]
- Thanks, Officer. Excuse me.
Some kind of altercation.
The hot dog got into a dispute with the victim.
- Did anybody witness it?
- Patrons heard a commotion.
They came over and they found him like this.
- Security cameras? - Nothing so far.
- Interview all the patrons. - Okay.
- Collect the footage from surrounding vendors.
- Okay.
[police radio chatter]
- Sir, I'm Detective Avraham.
- He went berserk, he--
I just pushed him off of me, I swear.
- I need you to come with us to the police station.
- He just attacked me.
- We can talk about it at the station.
- Is he dead?
- It appears so.
Keep him in the costume.
- Really? - Please.
- Okay.
Officer, just load him in the front RMP.
[car horns beeping]
[sirens whooping]
[soft dramatic music]
- [praying in Hebrew]
* *
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
- I'm here to report my son is missing.
[police radio chatter]
* *
- Let's put him in the box. See, I'll be with you shortly.
- We know what happened? - He'll tell me.
- Oh, we just got a walk-up, if you don't mind.
She's in the break room. She's a mother.
Avi, you're good with the mothers.
* *
- Hello. Detective Avraham.
- Joel Hamlin.
- I miss anything? - No, he just started.
- Oh, okay. Good.
God help me, I love watching Avi work.
- Do I need a lawyer?
- I wouldn't think so.
Can you tell me how the altercation began?
- He made a comment about this,
It wasn't even that clever.
I sniped back.
Next thing, he's attacking me. So I pushed him off,
and he fell, and...
hit his head.
- What was his comment?
Do you remember?
Do you remember what he said?
- Something about "wiener dick."
Like I said, not even that clever.
- You get that a lot?
Comments like this?
- I do.
- How long have you been working as...
Mr. Footlong? Is that your actual title?
- It is.
- How long have you been working as Mr. Footlong?
- Almost six months.
- And before that?
- Before that, I was COO at Stake Side,
which closed down--COVID.
- You have family, children?
- Three kids.
- A wife? - We're divorced.
- When did you divorce?
- Recently. It's been a difficult year.
- What did you say that caused him to attack you?
- I don't really remember.
- No one does passive-aggressive like Avi.
- You remember what he said,
but you don't remember what you said?
- I don't really remember. It all happened so fast.
All I know is that he just came at me.
- And you pushed him off? - That's right.
- Did you punch him?
- No--I just pushed him, I--
you know, shoved him.
- I noticed he had blood on the back of his head,
a laceration, a gash,
as if he had been struck with great force.
Is it possible, sir, that after he made his remark,
he turned to walk away,
and you just swung
and hit him in the back of the head?
- No, no.
- Sometimes people snap,
not because they're criminals,
but in fact because they're human.
People can only take so much.
I can't imagine the abasement
of having to dress up as a hot dog,
to be ridiculed by people on the street,
losing your career, your wife,
seeing yourself in that costume through your children's eyes.
We can only take so much.
I know you didn't mean for this to happen, Mr. Hamlin,
but it did happen. - [sobbing]
- And the best thing now for you, your children,
would be for you to be forthcoming.
* *
- [exhales]
- Wow.
Is he always that good? - Always.
- Just not usually that fast.
It must be some kind of damn record.
- [laughs] - Keeping him in the costume--
it's almost not fair.
- Hello.
My name is Detective Avraham.
- Nora Conte.
This is my son, Vincent.
He's missing.
He didn't come home from school today.
He didn't call. He's not picking up his phone,
and it's almost 10:00.
- How old is your son?
- 16.
- You're sure he was at school today?
- I spoke to his friend. He was there.
But school lets out at 3:30, and he's missing.
- Well, 16-year-old boys can sometimes
choose to be missing,
often with 16-year-old girls.
- He's not having sex with a 16-year-old girl.
He's--he's missing.
[cell phone rings]
I'm sorry. Hello.
No.
I'm with the police now.
Okay.
My husband. - Where is he?
- Austin, Texas.
He left this morning for a business trip.
- Is he also convinced something
has happened to Vincent?
- Yes.
Please. He's my heart.
- Next week's class assignment, I want it all in the narrative.
Sense of place, no dialogue.
And I beg you, please, no more than three pages
'cause I'm only human.
And prose only, Julia. No rhyming.
I double beg you.
Zack, hang back, would you?
Sit a sec, will you?
- Uh-oh, being held after class.
- I finished the manuscript.
- Oh. And?
Oh, I did that much, huh? [chuckles]
- This is a very difficult thing for me to say.
It'll be more so for you to hear.
I don't think you were meant to be a writer,
at least not a novelist.
There are ways to make a living
utilizing your writing skills, but--
- What does that mean? I am a writer.
- Fiction is not your calling.
- That's not true.
No, that's not true.
Just because you didn't respond to something doesn't--
you're the one that said,
"Don't let anyone tell you you can't write."
Those were your words.
- Yes, they were.
- Well, I'll get better.
[distant siren wailing]
That's all. I'll just get better.
- You'll remember I made an admission early on
that I did not think this craft could really be taught.
Plot, convention, story structure, sure.
But at the end of the day,
either a person can write or he cannot.
You cannot.
[door bell jingles]
[dark music]
* *
[car horn honking]
[tires screeching]
* *
- How do you do that?
- I'm sorry?
- It's almost like he wanted to confess.
- Many do.
People tend to be burdened by their wrongdoing.
- That's what you picked up on, his burden?
- What did you see?
- I saw a man who had been utterly reduced,
and you valued him,
but we all do that.
We're all taught that trick.
- Perhaps it shouldn't be a trick.
The Talmud teaches us to see a single human being
as the whole world,
that each person is entitled
to infinite respect and concern.
Everyone is precious.
I believe that, Janine.
Mr. Hamlin saw and felt as much.
This job...
it would be easy to lose faith in humanity.
It would be a mistake.
- Hey, I'm home.
- I'm in the tub.
- Wow.
Look at you.
- Living the life. - Mm-hmm.
- It took me over an hour to put him down tonight,
so I earned every last bubble.
How was class?
- Good. Good, yeah, he, um--
liked the book.
- Oh, my God, that's fantastic.
- Yep.
- I am so proud of you.
What's wrong?
- Nothing. I'm just looking at you.
A man can still objectify his wife, right?
[chuckles]
- A man certainly can.
You just looked a little sad there for a second.
Puppy doggy.
It's actually nice to be objectified.
It's been a while.
[soft dramatic music]
* *
[chuckles softly]
Let me get out of the tub. - Mm.
Have I ever told you how much I love bubbles?
- [laughs] Zackary.
- Should I stop?
- Mm! - You okay?
- Yeah, I just--maybe it makes a little more sense to--
[laughs]
Oh.
[moaning] [water splashing]
[dark music]
[both grunting]
* *
[beep] [printer whirs]
- [exhales] [door opens]
[sighs]
- I hear breathing.
- I'd like to partner with Avi.
- No. - You want me to learn,
so who better to teach me?
- You can't learn what he does.
- Yes, I can.
Wouldn't it be great to have two detectives
with that skill set?
- No.
- Okay.
Um, open or closed?
[tense music]
* *
- Zack.
- You're up.
- Yeah, I got up to feed Luke. You...
didn't hear him crying?
- I guess I didn't. [chuckles softly]
* *
- What's going on?
- What--what do you mean?
- I'm a little freaked out about what happened in the tub.
- What?
- Well, I asked to get out of the tub,
and then I slipped.
Then you were on top of me
in a nanosecond, then inside me.
And I'm not saying that I wouldn't have consented,
but there wasn't time. - Wait, what are you saying?
- It was a little aggressive for my taste.
- Aggressive? We were making love.
- You imposed yourself.
- Are you serious?
- I will not be fucked like that, Zack.
* *
- [praying inaudibly]
* *
- I'm retired detective Sgt. Wally Zeitz,
and this is "Breaking the Case,"
a podcast series written and produced
by the New York City Police Department.
We're going to take you back to a case from August 2006.
This is the story of how one individual
terrorized the roadways of Queens for seven hours.
We'll hear from officers who crisscrossed
the highways that night on the lookout for a green car.
* *
- You pour it so slowly. - [scoffs]
You got rituals, I got rituals.
I like to pretend I'm in Europe somewhere,
one of those cafés with the French press thingies.
Makes this shit taste better.
My wife gave me an article about attitude
and outlook and whatnot.
- Avi, I've decided to partner you with Janine for a while.
- Because? - Well, because she asked,
and the more I thought on it, it makes sense.
- I prefer to work alone.
- Well, who was it that said you don't
always get what you want?
- Janine's cool. You might actually like her.
- I won't intrude, promise.
- You already have.
- Well, the Talmud says it's forbidden for a teacher
to reject a student.
So, I mean, Halakahkly speaking,
if I ask you, you kind of have to teach me.
- [laughs]
[tense tone]