The homeless brute who allegedly stole an 88-year-old lady’s cane in Union Square — and knocked her over while trying to flee with her purse — is a registered sex offender from Wisconsin and a parole violator, court officials said at a hearing Saturday.

Kurtis Mcvae entered Manhattan Criminal Court with a scruffy beard and mustache, and a mop of dirty blonde hair. 

The 36-year-old’s hands appeared dirty and he was wearing a white T-shirt, green flannel jacket with a grey hoodie, forest green sweatpants and grey sneakers.

Mcvae allegedly took the octogenarian’s walking stick after grabbing her arm when she was on her way to Target on Union Square East around 3 p.m. Thursday, cops said.

But the victim refused to let go of her cane, and eventually fell in the struggle, Assistant District Attorney Sydney Albert charged in court. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition and released.

The victim’s health aide took a photo of Mcvae’s clothes, which was used to create a wanted poster and led to his capture, Albert said.

Mcvae has failed to appear in court three times in other cases, prosecutors said.

He is a registered sex offender in Wisconsin and failed to register the status in New York, Judge Felicia Mennin said.

Also in New York, Mcvae has had six prior arrests — on charges including petit larceny and possession of a controlled substance, police sources have said.

He is also a probation and parole violator in New York, the judge said. 

Defense attorney David Park acknowledged that “the allegations sound serious,” but said his client does not have the resources to post bail or to flee. 

Mcvae has worked as a stocker at Macy’s on 34th St. for seven months and lives in a Bowery shelter, Park said. Before working at Macy’s, Mcvae was “recycling plastic,” Park said. 

Mcvae addressed the court several times about his employment, muttering incoherently. 

His lawyer said McVae had missed court dates because he “misplaced the paperwork.”

Mcvae said he missed a Feb. 17 court date for a robbery arrest at Duane Reed because he was working “from 9:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon.”

Judge Mennin set his bail at $7,500 cash, $30,000 bond, and $25,000 insurance company bond. He was sent to Rikers Island.

Reached at home, the victim told The Post she was “better now,” but declined to comment further.

Pokémon bandits tunneled into a Los Angeles collectible shop and made off with nearly $200K in cards in a brazen burglary in Anaheim.

It happened in the early morning hours of Wednesday morning at DOWE Collectibles in the 1100 block of North Harbor Boulevard, the Anaheim Police Department told KTLA.

Investigators said suspects broke into one office and, using a sledgehammer, smashed through drywall and tunneled into the collectible card shop next door.

Security camera footage from CBSLA showed the suspects breaking into the shop through the wall before the masked thieves used sledgehammers to break display cases.

The burglars made their way through the shop, smashing cases and filling up giant black bags of $180,000 worth of the cards, police said.

The owner of the shop, Duy Pham, said when his phone alerted him to the break-in he could not believe what he was seeing.

“I clicked on the footage and saw guys coming through the hole,” Pham said. “My heart was pounding. I called 911 right away and rushed over here.”

The owner said the burglars didn’t bother with electronics and focused only on the collectable cards.

“They didn’t touch our computers or cameras,” Pham said. “They were here for the cards.”

KTLA’s video showed the damage in the wall and what the shop looked like after the break in. 

No arrests have been made, and police confirmed to KTLA that detectives are following up on leads in the case.

Police did not immediately return calls from The Post. This is only the latest example of thieves breaking into collectible stores for the specialty cards. 

In January, Merch-loving thieves stole a $300,000 set of Pokémon cards and other collectibles in two robberies in Los Angeles-including a brazen caught-on-camera heist using an electric saw, The Post reported.

The Anaheim shop owner said there’s been an increase in the value of the Pokémon cards and pointed out how some are worth thousands of dollars. 

“One card can be worth up to $10,000,” Pham told KTLA. “People see the money is there.”

He added, “We kind of expected something like this sooner or later. When you’re in this business, you feel like you have a target on your back.”

Two teens have been charged in connection with a foolish TikTok stunt that caused a 16-year-old boy to plummet 50 feet and become trapped inside a shaft on the Queensboro Bridge, as the victim’s loved ones alleged his so-called friends left him there to die.

A 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy have been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in the boneheaded stunt gone wrong on Monday evening, an NYPD spokesperson said on Thursday.

The younger teen has been charged with reckless endangerment and criminal trespassing, and the older boy with criminal trespassing, cops said.

Officers responded to a 911 call on the Queens end of the East River bridge around 5:45 p.m. Monday and found the 16-year-old from Lynbrook, Long Island stuck inside the shaft, police said.

Sources told The Post the boy was filming a stunt to post on TikTok when he fell.

Roughly 75 first responders and 10 pieces of apparatus were needed to rescue the boy, FDNY Deputy Chief Nicholas Corrado said at a press briefing at the scene 

He was rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell, where he was listed in critical but stable condition, police said.

An online petition urging for the stunt to be investigated alleged that two of the teen’s “friends” took videos of the boy, identified as “Frankie,” as he screamed their names “in agony” and sent them to people online.

“Nobody deserves to be abandoned and left to die during the worst and most traumatic moment of their life,” the Change.org petition said.

The petition, which has over 1,000 signatures, alleged that the two pals managed to take the wounded teen’s cell phone to prevent him from calling emergency services and fled the scene to their homes — leaving the boy “inside the bridge shaft suffering and dying.”

“Multiple hours later, an anonymous woman who saw the video contacted authorities,” the petition added. “The FDNY had to search each shaftway of the Queensboro Bridge until they found Frankie’s shoe and blood.”

A GoFundMe for Frankie’s recovery costs said the teen was hypothermic and lost a lot of blood during the terrifying fall, and “now faces a long road of surgeries, recovery, and rehabilitation.”

“His survival is nothing short of a miracle,” the fundraiser for his family said.

TikTok has come under attack in recent years for allowing a string of possibly dangerous stunts to be widely shared and remain on the social media platform.

ESPN host Stephen A. Smith called out California Gov. Gavin Newsom on his “Straight Shooter” podcast Wednesday, telling the governor he is “still waiting” for him to appear on his show and “answer” for issues facing the state, including homelessness, crime, California’s sanctuary status and what he described as “billions in debt.”

Smith noted that former Vice President Kamala Harris leads the Real Clear Politics polling average for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president at 31%, while Newsom trails at 22%. He argued that Harris being the favorite for the Democratic Party’s nomination is an “indictment against the party” and the fact that “her name still even exists” means “nobody else has stepped up and stood out.”

“Gavin Newsom, 22%. Still waiting for you to come on the show, Mr. Governor,” Smith said. “Still waiting. Still waiting, Gavin Newsom.”

“I keep telling you, it’s going to be more, far more pleasant than you realize,” Smith continued. “Because I just want to ask questions and I want to listen to your answers. I don’t want a ‘got you’ moment. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I don’t want to go back and forth with you, interrogating you like I’m some prosecutor or whatever.”  

Smith referenced recent comments from former President Barack Obama where he criticized the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, calling it an “atrocity” given the billions of dollars elected officials have thrown at the problem over the years.

“I simply want you to answer for your state about the homelessness that Obama just alluded to, which he labeled an embarrassment,” Smith said. “About the crime. About defund the police, about being a sanctuary city and state. About billions in debt. About homelessness. Where’s the answer to those questions?”

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Obama was speaking with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen on Saturday when he touched on criticism local residents and business owners have voiced for years.

“I think it is morally — ethically speaking — it is an atrocity that in a country this wealthy, we have people just on the streets, and we should insist on policies that recognize their full humanity — people who are houseless — and be able to provide them with the help and resources that they need,” Obama said.

“We should recognize that the average person doesn’t want to have to navigate around a tent city in the middle of downtown,” he added. “That’s a losing political strategy.”

Smith has been consistent in criticizing Newsom for not appearing on his show to discuss the current state of California and his potential 2028 presidential campaign. 

In late January, Smith pointed out that Newsom had been invited onto the show on “numerous occasions” but never accepted the invitation, calling out the governor for declining to do so.

“What the hell you running from me for?” Smith asked. “I just want to ask questions. I want to give you an opportunity to answer to the people of California and to the American people if you’re going to be a presidential candidate in 2028. Gavin Newsom not appearing on this show doesn’t stop me from talking about him and his record.” 

“I don’t know all about his record. He does. And he has the platform here anytime he wants to make sure that the record is set straight,” he added.

When reached for contact by Fox News Digital, a representative for Newsom responded with the following statement: “The Governor crushed Hannity and DeSantis head-on. He’s not ducking anybody, he’s just busier than Stephen apparently is. But we’re still planning to do his show.”

Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee’s car was stolen — after a brazen thief broke into her City Hall office to abscond with the black SUV, a source told The California Post.

Lee’s car was recovered in nearby Vallejo, Calif. after the shameless car bandit reportedly stole the mayor’s keys from her office two days ago. The door to her office was found tampered with, according to a source close to the Oakland Police Department.

The police believe they know who the culprit is and there is a warrant for their arrest, per the source.

Lee, a longtime East Bay congresswoman, narrowly won the Oakland mayor’s race in 2024 and inherited a city plagued by burglaries, car thefts and other property crimes.

Oakland has one of the highest rates of auto thefts in the country, with 9,914 motor vehicle theft crimes in 2024, according to FBI data.

Its overall crime rate was 4 times the national average in 2024 amid a severe Oakland police staffing shortage, with the department running about 280 officers short, according to an independent report cited in local media.

The city has made headlines for violent crimes like the murder of beloved Laney College football coach John Beam.

In October, more than 1,000 historic artifacts, including Native American jewelry and relics, were stolen from the Oakland Museum of California’s storage facility.

In December, the Oakland City Council voted in for a contract with Flock Safety to maintain safety cameras after a highly contentious public debate.

Representatives for Lee’s office and Oakland City Hall did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As California’s deadly drunk driving problem has exploded in recent years, with the state being home to six of the country’s 10 worst cities for DUIs, the Los Angeles police union is now placing the blame squarely at the feet of socialist politicians for slashing resources and soft on crime policies.

After three LAPD officers were hospitalized during a suspected DUI pursuit in the San Fernando Valley Saturday night, the police union released a fiery statement to The California Post, condemning lefty lawmakers.

“Driving while intoxicated is not a victimless crime and when Los Angeles politicians such as Councilmember Nithya Raman and Eunisses Hernandez repeatedly vote to cut police officers, stop enforcing DUI laws and end most other traffic enforcement, in the name of criminal justice reform, it only makes our streets less safe for every Angeleno,” the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League said in a statement.

And while the officers were lucky to be released from the hospital without any major injuries, some families aren’t so fortunate.

Jennifer Levi knows the pain of losing a love one all too well. Her 18-year-old son was killed by a suspected repeat drunk driver, and thanks to laws regarding non-violent crimes and good behavior, offenders can serve little jail time and find themselves quickly back behind the wheel — something she is afraid will happen in her case. 

“The safety of our roads is deteriorating to a point where everyday it feels like there’s a death from a drunk driver,” said Levi, who lost her son Braun back in May after he was struck and killed while walking home by Jenia Resha Belt, 33, who faces one count of murder.

The California Post has reached out to Raman and Hernandez’s offices for comment but did not hear back.

Now, Levi is one of several victims stepping up to push lawmakers to crack down on California’s lax drunk driving laws, including Democrat State Senator Bob Archuleta, whose eldest granddaughter died from a head-on crash with a drunk driver in 2024.

“You’re intoxicated and you cause great bodily injury to someone, that is considered a violent crime, but the killing of that person would not be a violent crime under current law,” a spokesperson for Archuleta said. 

But it’s not just drunk drivers who are are getting let off the hook, Allison Layman is fighting to revoke another soft law that went into effect in 2021. That law, Assembly Bill 3234, expanded the misdemeanor diversion program to include vehicular manslaughter after her 23-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver.

“What’s happened in the last five years, is judges are, I mean, almost handing it out like candy,” Lyman said of the program that allows offenders to receive less punishment than a speeding ticket in some cases.

Drunk driving continues to be a major problem across the state — with a DUI rate of 3.68 per 1,000 drivers, San Jose is second on the list for worst cities in America, followed by Sacramento, according to recent data from LendingTree. Fresno came in at fifth on the list with a DUI rate of 3.31, followed by Long Beach at seven, then Bakersfield, and Oakland.

Levi’s son, Braun, was one of those tragedies that happens too often in California.

“He was gonna go play tennis at the University of Virginia. He loved life, he was a great kid, he worked hard,” Levi said. “It’s completely devastating to us, and I couldn’t believe it happened to us and it’s just so sad that that our state is like this.”

Braun was a nationally recognized tennis player, who was killed just a week before his high school graduation. 

Just over 1,300 people were killed in an alcohol-involved crash in 2023, representing a more than 50% increase over the past decade, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety. Thousands more were injured, and more often than not, it’s a result from repeat offenders, according to a report from CalMatters. 

“What shocks me the most is how little time they serve in jail for killing somebody,” Levi told The California Post. “Right now, you are drunk and you injure someone, you will most likely spend more time in jail than if you kill somebody, because it’s called an accident. Braun’s death certificate says accident. That was not an accident.” 

While Levi’s case is still ongoing, there are even more recent examples of vehicular manslaughter that resulted in early release. Over the weekend, a California woman who killed a 21-year-old cyclist in her fourth distracted-driving crash was set to be released early on Valentine’s Day for good behavior. She began serving a nine-year prison term in 2023. 

“Because the way credits work, for good behavior and doing certain things while you’re incarcerated, non-violent felonies you can get up to 50% of your time taken off, while a violent felony you can only have 15% taken off,” a spokesperson for Archuleta told The Post. 

Archuleta introduced Senate Bill 907, which aims to strengthen California’s DUI enforcement and sentencing laws. 

The bill would target repeat offenders and add gross vehicular manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated to the violent felony list, ensuring those who killed someone while drunk driving serve more time than someone who injures a person. 

Another key provision of the bill is “Braun’s Law,” which mandates Watson Warnings in cases where the perpetrator pleas down from a DUI to a hit and run — following the warning, if a person kills someone while drinking and driving they face second degree murder charges. 

“The Watson Warning is not read consistently throughout California,” Levi said. “The woman who killed our son, she had a previous DUI but made a misdemeanor plea deal for a hit and run and was never read the Watson Warning.”

While the bill, which has bipartisan support, would be a major enhancement on the state’s drunk driving laws, it doesn’t address 2020’s Assembly Bill 3234, which expanded misdemeanor diversion programs to vehicular manslaughter — something Lyman has urged lawmakers to reform after her son Connor Lopez was killed by a distracted driver. 

Lyman, who lost her son last summer, said because of this diversion program, speeding tickets can come with more penalties than vehicular manslaughter. 

“We think it’s to empty the jails, that’s been kind of the consensus as we’ve spoken about it — is there was a big soft on crime push, and they didn’t want to pay to put people in jail,” Lyman told The Post.

An investigation by CalMatters found that because of the misdemeanor diversion program, some people charged with vehicular manslaughter were able to keep the case off their driving record. 

Lopez, a pianist, was killed in April in Elk Grove when a driver turned into oncoming traffic and hit him while riding his motorcycle.

“He died on the road, that driver never got out of her car,” Lyman said. “She sat there as others ran to cover his body.” 

The driver, Harjit Kaur, was charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. Connor’s family was told to brace themselves for the likely chance a misdemeanor diversion is granted. 

“We’re just anticipating at one of the hearings that will be part of her defense,” Lyman said. “It’s like the moment you find out about it, you start living that nightmare. It hasn’t even happened yet and you know, we’ve been told brace for it.”

Lyman is now trying to raise as much awareness as possible to revoke the eligibility of diversion programs for vehicular manslaughter convictions, even starting a petition that has garnered nearly 13,000 signatures to push lawmakers to act. 

California has a history of deadly roads, and a criminal justice system that Lyman said “it’s like the compassion goes toward the criminal and not the victim.”

And while no sentence or justice will ever bring their children back, Lyman and Levi are making it their mission to make the state’s roads safer for future generations.

“The woman who killed our son had a suspended license,” Levi said. “Our family will be disappointed and nothing will ever bring our son back and no sentencing or charge will ever feel like enough, but I feel so strongly about changing California for the future.” 

There’s snow job too small for these neighborhood heroes.

Two Manhattan buddies are going viral for clearing nearly 30 local businesses’ and residences’ sidewalks the day after Jan. 25’s monster snow storm – free of charge.

NoHo resident Andrew Psomas told The Post he watched the mammoth snowfall predictions from Winter Storm Fern mount beforehand, so the self-described artist called pal Danny Reed – an adventure athlete and content creator – at 9:30 p.m. the day before to see if he was on board to join him in his effort.

Psomas said the pair began shoveling snow at 6 a.m. Jan. 26 with the simple goal of clearing as many sidewalks as possible before work.

“I was shoveling snow for this building I’ve been close with for a while — and as I was shoveling snow, it just brought me back to when I was shoveling as a kid,” said Psomas, 31, of the inspiration behind the good deed.

“A lot of people don’t have the capability to shovel snow for themselves. People die from heart attacks while shoveling snow. There’s also elderly people that just need to get around,” he said.

“All this was going on in my head while I was shoveling, and I just thought, ‘I need to do this.’ But one person shoveling is not as fun as two, so I called up Danny because Danny is always down for something fun.”

The pair cleared a whopping 30 sidewalks outside businesses and residences on Bleecker Street in NoHo before 9 a.m., he said. The grueling work took about three hours.

The Pizza Box on Bleecker Street shoveled its own sidewalk but kept the pair’s goodwill going by gifting them with a free pizza.

“Saw you in our hood! We shoveled our own sidewalk, but our customers appreciate you,” the business wrote on Instagram. “We want to treat you to a pizza on us! Great job! It’s hard work.”

Psomas said, “There’s a great sense of community in the city and everyone’s always helping each other out.

“I’m not going to wait for the snow to do something nice.

“We just wanted to create a situation where the streets would be open for all people and people could get about their business,” he said.

–Additional reporting by Greg Carlton

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Sunday “Bad Bunny Day” in the Golden State ahead of the Puerto Rican superstar’s Super Bowl Halftime performance in the Bay Area Sunday.

Channeling President Donald Trump‘s all-caps posting style, Newsom’s press office took to X to gush over the Grammy winner’s looks and talent.

“As many people know, I am a tremendous lover of ‘The Spanish.’ It is a beautiful language spoken by many beautiful people in the great state of California and across the world,” the post read.

“I am also a huge fan of Puerrrrrrrto Rico. That is what I am declaring tomorrow in California as’Bad Bunny Day’ when Bad Bunny performs at the big game in the Golden state with his soothing, beautiful voice, and his very nice looks.”

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“Many people can’t stop talking about him according to my ‘guys’ and ‘gals!’” the message continued,” before taking a jab at Fox News host Jesse Watters, claiming the anchor is “obsessed” with the singer as much as he is the governor. 

“We love Bad Bunny!” it concluded. “He is nearly as ‘hot” as me, which is a big compliment, because here is nobody ‘hotter. Happy Bad Bunny Day, America. Enjoy. -Governor GCN.”

The post comes after major backlash from President Trump and other conservatives against the NFL for tapping the singer for the Super Bowl Halftime show.

In response, the superstar went on Saturday Night Live and told Americans they had to learn Spanish because he wouldn’t be singing in English. 

A bombshell memo made public Thursday proves the city knew about the potential risks of Sept. 11, 2001 toxins weeks after the terror attacks — as officials told New Yorkers it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, local pols said.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) unveiled the October 2001 memo, in which Big Apple lawyers admitted the city could face tens of thousands of lawsuits, including from people exposed to toxins after being advised they could return to the area around Ground Zero too soon.

“Health advisories caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm) or too late (causing economic hardship),” the city Law Department wrote in the memo to Bob Harding, then–Deputy Mayor for Economic Development under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

“As we head into the 25th anniversary of 9/11, it’s really just shameful that the city gave this information and refused to disclose this information,” Menin, who ran a small business in the Financial District at the time of the attacks, said outside City Hall.

“This is just such a shocking situation,” she said, “that the city of New York has failed to take responsibility for telling the downtown community and first responders that the air was safe to breathe and that we should all be staying in Lower Manhattan.”

The document does not show that the city knew about the contaminants still filling the air when it advised New Yorkers it was safe to return to the area around the World Trade Center.

But it served as a “risk assessment” showing lawyers for the city admitting they could face up to 10,000 liability claims from residents over potential respiratory issues from contaminants including metals and asbestos, Menin said.

Nearly 50,000 first responders and others have been diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers.

The so-called “Harding memo” was first referenced in journalist Wayne Barrett’s 2006 book “The Grand Illusion,” though it was never clear how he obtained it.

It was finally found last week by the pro-bono attorneys for 9/11 victims at the University of Texas, which inherited Barrett’s estate.

Though the university told victims’ lawyers in December that they had no record of the memo, clerks agreed to comb through 300 boxes of Barrett’s documents – and found the missing memo in January.

“It is outrageous, and it is shocking, and it is heartbreaking that … the state of Texas is telling us more about what the city knew and when it knew it than the mayor’s offices have told us for the past 45 years,” said 9/11 victims’ attorney Andrew Carboy.

The memo release is part of a larger effort to make public records related to the Sept. 11. attacks.

The city previously moved to dismiss attempts to disclose its own toxin records, at one point claiming it had no documents – and only reversed course last year after a Department of Investigation probe spearheaded by Brewer found 68 boxes of 9/11 health-related documents, according to lawyers for some of the victims.

The council members and victims’ lawyers are now calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to fund a $3 million project to probe and release the records.

“It’s time for the mayor to step up and do what he needs to do to get the right and the information out to people who really need it,” said Thomas Hart, who sits on the board of 9/11 Health Watch.

Menin and Brewer said newly-minted mayor’s office attorney Steve Banks “favorably indicated to both of us that he was committed to do that” at his confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Ex-Mayor Eric Adams once refused to release a stash of documents showing the alleged cover-up — unless the city was granted immunity from lawsuits.

“There’s much more that we need to know, and as we are seeing from this memo, as more documents from the 68 boxes will come out,” added Rep. Dan Goldman on the steps of City Hall.

“The idea that monetary and financial concerns would dictate the actions of the city of New York for 25 years is repulsive.”

— Additional reporting by Haley Brown