A viral video is winning over viewers after capturing a uniformed Long Island police officer approaching a group of teenagers playing soccer—only to surprise them with an impressive display of his own skills instead of sending them home.

Suffolk County Police Officer Kevin Martinez told The Post that he was patrolling SSG James D. McNaughton Memorial Park in Centereach at about 8 p.m. Thursday when he noticed the teens playing “the beautiful game.” A former college soccer standout, Martinez said he could not resist the urge to join in.

Video shows Martinez quickly taking control with slick dribbling and sharp footwork. In one clip, he sends a player tumbling with a quick change of direction; in another, he beats the goalkeeper by firing the ball through his legs for a goal.

“Say I won’t get out of the car right now and score,” Martinez recalled telling his partner. The officer said his colleague then dared him to approach the teens and challenge them to a game.

“You can tell at first they thought they were getting kicked out,” Martinez said in an interview Monday.

“Then I asked them, ‘Who wants to 1v1?’ and their reaction was priceless. I just remember them getting super excited,” he said.

Two of the boys immediately accepted, apparently expecting an easy victory over the officer. They soon discovered they were facing a former college star who had led all of Suffolk County in scoring during his senior season at Bay Shore High School.

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The video, which has attracted more than a million likes on Instagram, captures the moment the teens realize Martinez is not just another player stepping onto the field.

“At first they didn’t think I had skills, [but] once they saw me dribble they were in awe,” Martinez said.

“They were shocked and screamed when I passed both of them,” he added.

Martinez acknowledged that he got the better of the two players, but he also praised their effort. One of the teens managed to beat him and score, despite the officer carrying an additional 25 to 30 pounds of police equipment.

Martinez, who once spent his own time practicing on soccer fields, said he never imagined the encounter would become an online sensation. Still, he is pleased that it did, because he believes the moment highlights the value of positive engagement between police and the communities they serve.

“When I first joined, my goal was—and still is—to change the perception some people may have of police officers,” Martinez said.

“I strive to have positive interactions that can change someone’s perspective and show them that officers are approachable and genuinely care about the community,” he added.

“Those interactions can have a domino effect, strengthening community relationships and ultimately helping build the trust necessary to prevent and solve crimes,” he said.

Caleb Flynn, a former American Idol singer, broke down in court Monday after being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering his wife.

The 40-year-old was convicted of fatally shooting Ashley Flynn, 37, inside the couple’s home in Tipp City, Ohio, on February 16.

Shaking and sobbing during the sentencing hearing, Flynn apologized to his family while continuing to maintain that he was not responsible for his wife’s death.

“As I stand here before God, I am not lying when I say I did not kill my wife,” Flynn said through tears. “I will continue to fight for my innocence as long as the Lord allows me to, as I did not kill my wife.”

Flynn’s face reddened as he struggled to contain his emotions while relatives read victim impact statements written by his daughters.

“Dear Daddy. I don’t know where to start. How could you do such a thing? I loved you with all my heart. Mommy was the perfect person… what did she ever do to make you hate her so much?” one daughter wrote.

“I cry and cry every day, and my heart breaks to see the people I love hurt. I’ve seen videos and pictures of you on YouTube. It was your choice to go off with that dirty girl. It was your choice to leave that perfect girl, Ashley. It was your choice to leave your only two daughters. It was your choice to kill the only mother I’ve ever had.”

Her other daughter also addressed the pain caused by the killing, asking: “Did you ever think about how much pain you would bring your own two daughters?”

“By the way, Ashley Flynn was the best thing that ever happened to you. You decided to throw it away for a girl who was half your age,” the statement continued.

The daughter added: “You made me feel like an idiot thinking I could trust you… And by the way, I don’t plan on coming to see you.”

Flynn said the cruel remarks about Ashley and his family that emerged during the trial did not reflect what he truly felt.

“I made vows to Ashley on our wedding day. I failed those vows,” he told the court.

“Although words don’t come close, I cannot apologize enough. You heard awful, hurtful things I said. I am so incredibly sorry.”

He continued: “As horrible as those things were, I want you to know I did not, and do not, mean them. I do not hate you. I love you all.”

Flynn wept as prosecutors urged the judge to impose a life sentence, outlining their case that he shot Ashley and coached his children to mislead investigators.

His parents also cried during the hearing. In letters submitted to the judge, they asked for mercy and described their son as remorseful.

The judge ultimately ordered Flynn to spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole and condemned what the court called his heinous conduct.

‘Having heard the evidence in this case, the court is left with one clear and obvious conclusion: You pose a serious risk of harm to the public,’ the judge said.

‘In fact, the highest risk. Your actions were abhorrent. The layers of deceit, manipulation, and cruelty you showed are impossible to fathom. And, frankly, sir, you used your faith. The court finds that deeply disturbing. Your marriage did not need to end the way it did.’

Flynn told his daughters he loved them and that they are his ‘greatest joy in this life.’

‘I have so many thoughts and dreams of raising you and seeing you grow up to be mighty women of God, but unfortunately, I can’t. That’s why I’m sorry,’ he said.

During her victim impact statement, Ashley’s sister, Kayla, called out Flynn for putting the family through a public trial.

‘For months, our family prayed that you would confess and own up to all of your actions. But you didn’t. Instead, you chose to drag us through a nationally televised trial,’ she said

‘Someday your daughters may search the internet about the worst night of their lives. They lost their mother, their father, and pretty much everything they’ve owned in one night.’

During his two-week-long trial last month, prosecutors said the former music pastor shot and killed his wife after having a ‘years-long’ affair with 24-year-old Alleigha Botner, then staged the scene to look like a break-in.

Flynn pleaded not guilty to the charges and insists that a home intruder killed his wife while he slept in a room just feet away with the pair’s two pre-teen daughters. 

Investigators testified that they found no evidence to suggest a home invasion had occurred, and prosecutors presented damning evidence that Flynn and his mistress regularly talked about wanting his wife dead.

Botner testified that she was 20 years old when she met Flynn at Christian Life Center in Dayton, Ohio, in 2022, while she worked as an intern and he was either 36 or 37.

She then claimed their relationship became romantic after she went through a breakup in early 2024 and he began to show interest in her.

The mistress confessed that she and Flynn used hateful language to talk about Ashley, calling her ‘spawn of Satan, b****, and douchebag’

She testified that Flynn told her that he hated his wife, and she gave him several ultimatums and deadlines to leave her.

Botner broke down in tears when she was forced to admit that she exchanged messages with Flynn about wanting Ashley dead.

‘Do you know how badly I want to say, “F it,” to any rules and any barriers and just love you with my entire heart for the rest of my life,’ Botner wrote to Flynn on July 10, 2025.

Jurors also heard AI-generated love songs that prosecutors say he made for Botner. Flynn didn’t testify on his own behalf, nor did anybody else.

Jeffrey Archer has died peacefully and unexpectedly at his home at the age of 86, his publishers, HarperCollins, have confirmed.

The internationally acclaimed author died “between writing sessions”, just 24 hours before the planned publication of his latest novel, Adam And Eve, HarperCollins said.

Archer’s books sold more than 300 million copies across 115 countries. He is survived by his wife, Dame Mary, 81, a distinguished scientist; their sons William, 54, and James, 52; and five grandchildren.

Lord Archer represented Louth in Parliament from 1969 until 1974 before returning to public life in the House of Lords, where he became a life peer in 1992.

After losing his Commons seat in the 1970s, he embarked on a literary career. His 1979 novel Kane And Abel became a global bestseller and has sold more than 30 million copies.

He later revived his political ambitions, becoming deputy chairman of the Conservative Party in 1985 during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.

In 1999, Archer announced that he would seek the Conservative nomination for Mayor of London, winning the public support of Baroness Thatcher and former prime minister John Major.

In July, Lord Archer and Dame Mary marked their 60th wedding anniversary with a garden celebration attended by 321 friends at their second home, the Old Vicarage in Grantchester, Cambridge.

The couple also had a penthouse overlooking the Thames and a home in Majorca, where Archer wrote many of his novels.

The author’s wealth was estimated at approximately £200 million this year, although he declined to discuss the figure during an interview with the Daily Mail in September.

His final interview with the Daily Mail took place last month, when he reflected on his extraordinary career and spoke about his health.

After being diagnosed with cancer in 2013, Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare underwent surgery to remove his prostate. He later said the operation left him permanently impotent.

“I’d rather have a life. ‘Fertile and dead’ — it’s not much of a choice, is it?” he said previously.

Adam And Eve was intended to be Archer’s final novel. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: “I’m 86. I don’t think I could do it again. So why not go now?”

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He explained that writing was demanding, revealing that he composed every word by hand with a felt-tip pen on a 32-line writing pad. Over two years, he produced 18 handwritten drafts and admitted he did not know how to switch on a computer.

In September, he said: “I find old age tiresome. I don’t think I’d like to live to 100. I have a hip problem.

“I can’t move as quickly as I’d like, but thankfully Mary and I both seem to be firing on all cylinders mentally.”

‘Alzheimer’s is my biggest dread, so I test my memory all the time; for names, places, events.’

‘I’m conscious that time is precious now’, Mary – who previously overcame bladder cancer – told the Daily Mail in September. 

‘We must use it well and I’d rather spend our old age together than apart. We’ve both been through cancer.’  

After suffering financial difficulties following the end of his first stint in politics in 1974, Jeffrey and Mary were saved first by her offer of a teaching job at Cambridge University, and later by his £2million advance for Kane And Abel.

Lord Archer was forced to resign as deputy chairman of the Conservatives after he was accused of paying money to a sex worker. 

He won a libel case in 1987 over the claims and was awarded large damages.

Lord Archer’s infidelities were publicly documented during and after his subsequent trial for perjury and perverting the course of justice in 2001, for which he was found guilty and served two years in prison. 

He famously had a three-year affair with the late actress Sally Farmiloe, and another with his then secretary Andrina Colquhoun.

Dame Mary once said she’d never considered divorcing her husband but had come close to murdering him. 

In his interview with the Daily Mail, he reflected on ambitions he never realised, saying: ‘I wish I’d won an Olympic gold and become Mayor of London.’

Lord Archer’s dream of running the capital was ended when it emerged he had lied in the libel case. 

WASHINGTON — The FBI monitored the travel of Melania and Barron Trump and tapped the cellphone of Susie Wiles, who would later become President Trump’s White House chief of staff, during special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into whether Trump illegally retained national security documents at Mar-a-Lago after his first term.

According to documents released Monday by the White House, agents tracked the first family’s travel while determining the best time to search Trump’s Palm Beach residence. In the months after the August 2022 raid, investigators also monitored Wiles’ phone to track her communications with Trump’s defense lawyers.

The surveillance, conducted during Joe Biden’s presidency, was part of a secret investigation code-named “Plasmic Echo.”

Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the wiretaps following a recommendation from then-FBI Director Christopher Wray. In a May 2022 memo, Wray warned that the sensitive investigation could involve senior figures from the 45th president’s administration and “could potentially be disruptive to the democratic process if publicly disclosed prior to an election.”

Wray nonetheless urged Garland to authorize the surveillance, adding a handwritten note at the bottom of the memo: “Merrick, I recomend you approve. CW.”

At the time, Wiles was overseeing Trump’s political operation as he prepared for the 2024 presidential campaign.

The FBI’s actions were detailed in a collection of documents released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force.

An email exchange among FBI agents, whose names were redacted, described the bureau’s preparations in late May 2022. The steps included completing the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, contacting the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, which had jurisdiction at the time, and closely monitoring Donald, Melania and Barron Trump.

One item on the agents’ checklist read: “Finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel (type of aircraft and specific
timeline).” The final two tasks were to “swear out the warrant” and
“finalize all coordination between FBI/DOJ/USSS” in West Palm Beach.

Another document stated that any search warrants would be executed only after the former president left Mar-a-Lago.

About a month before the raid, an unnamed special agent questioned whether the bureau had legal authority to search the former president’s office or bedroom and recommended additional discussions with Trump’s attorneys.

The FBI ultimately conducted the raid on Aug. 8, 2022, searching Trump’s office as well as the bedrooms belonging to both members of the former first couple.

The newly released records also detail the monitoring of Wiles’ cellphone from February through May 2023. Agents tracked calls involving nearly two dozen lawyers connected to Trump, along with campaign aides, political advisers and several journalists. The identities of those individuals were redacted, except for current FBI Director Kash Patel, who was not working for the government at the time.

Investigators also logged Wiles’ calls with Trump, identifying the former president as using a “vanity number” — a phone number that spells out a memorable word. The records do not disclose the word. Instead, they simply documented calls such as one listed on May 19, 2023: “2:05 pm The FPOTUS Vanity Number called WILES for 16 minutes and 11 seconds.”

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The daily logs show that Wiles’ phone was in almost constant use, with an incoming or outgoing call recorded roughly every 10 minutes.

For example, Wiles made or received 39 calls on March 9, 2023:

The bureau’s Washington Field Office noted “that [Lawyer 7] called Wiles at 2:04pm this afternoon for 41 seconds,” one March, 24, 2023, email stated.

“[Lawyer 7] first called Wiles at 2:10pm EST on March 21, and Wiles returned his call for 1 minute and 34 seconds later that day at 2:59pm,” a bureau agent wrote. “These are the only contacts we have observed between the two of them since the PR/TT’s inception.”

Another late February missive from an FBI intelligence analyst noted that “an ABC News reporter called her at 8:48 AM for 2 minutes and 36 seconds.”

By April of 2023, Wiles had sat down with FBI agents for an interview in Jacksonville, Fla., and later had her communication records both immediately before and after that sitdown queried.

“On 10 April 2023, WFO [redacted] reviewed WILES’s telephonic activity to determine contacts of interest on the date of her FBI interview,” another memo noted.

On that date, Wiles talked to former President Trump and several of his lawyers. She also received calls from a Washington Post reporter and Politico’s Florida bureau chief.

At the time of the surveillance, Smith’s investigation was focused on grand jury proceedings regarding potential obstruction of justice and whether Trump had claimed falsely that all classified documents had been returned to the National Archives.

The documents case against Trump was thrown out in July 2024 by a federal judge who found Smith had been unlawfully appointed by Garland.

“Jack Smith’s surveillance operation was a disgraceful abuse of government power,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple. Those responsible must be held accountable.”

As Israel reflects on the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, accounts of courage and sacrifice continue to surface amid the country’s long and difficult recovery.

For Nil Kirsht-Levi, the years since the Hamas-led massacre have brought unbearable grief, a desperate campaign to free her sister from captivity in Gaza and a determined effort to support others who survived the cross-border attack.

Kirsht-Levi, a nurse with Clalit’s Southern District, Israel’s largest healthcare provider, lives in Kibbutz Magen. On the morning of Oct. 7, she treated patients remotely from her safe room while shielding her three children as terrorists moved through the community, entering homes one after another. At the same time, she sent frantic messages to her sister, Rimon Buchshtab-Kirsht, who lived with her husband at nearby Kibbutz Nirim.

“That day, I lost more than 30 patients and more than 200 people I knew. About 100 people I knew were kidnapped,” Kirsht-Levi told News Media. She said her work, along with the health of her husband and children, has helped sustain her. “We work every day to recover and rehabilitate ourselves. Every day we fall and stand up again, but we are here — for ourselves and for others. We have won,” she said.

She said the memory of the attack must never fade, but survivors also have to continue living. “We must remember, move forward, live every moment and keep going. Being alive is a privilege,” she added.

On Oct. 7, Rimon sent her sister a message saying she could hear Arabic and that terrorists had entered her home. Kirsht-Levi endured weeks of uncertainty before seeing proof that Rimon was alive in a Hamas video. After campaigning tirelessly for her release, she embraced her sister 53 days later, when Rimon returned from captivity during a November 2023 ceasefire agreement. She was severely malnourished and covered in scars.

Rimon’s husband, Kirsht-Levi’s brother-in-law Yagev Buchshtab, was murdered by the terrorists.

That same Palestinian terror assault, which began on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, also placed Michaela Koretsky, a midwife with Clalit’s Southern District, in the middle of a desperate medical emergency at Kibbutz Alumim. With no hospital equipment available, she improvised care for wounded residents.

Koretsky was awakened at 6:29 a.m. by air raid sirens as Hamas fired thousands of rockets, creating cover for terrorists crossing into Israel. She hurried with her husband and children to the shelter. There, she received a message from Eran, a member of the kibbutz’s civilian security team, asking whether she was home. He soon began bringing injured residents to her for treatment.

“When they carried Amichai into the house, he was covered in blood. I immediately went into nurse mode,” Koretsky recalled.

She had Amichai placed on the floor while gunfire continued outside the kitchen window. Using what was available, Koretsky fashioned bandages and prepared an IV as she consulted by phone with a Soroka Medical Center emergency-room doctor who was also inside the kibbutz. The physician determined that Amichai was stable.

Soon afterward, Eyal arrived with a gunshot wound and a bullet lodged in his lung. Koretsky gave him oxygen and connected him to an IV, but his condition made clear that he needed to be evacuated immediately.

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“We had to save lives, so I put my mind into action and did what was necessary,” Koretsky told News Media. She said she pushed aside the fear that terrorists might discover the wounded were being treated in her home. Although one of her children worried they would be found, she kept reassuring herself that they were protected and that the danger would not reach them.

Koretsky’s husband, Tzviki, joined members of the kibbutz security team in reaching their vehicle. He then drove the wounded alone through gunfire to Netivot, where ambulances were waiting. Amichai and Eyal were later transported to Soroka Medical Center for additional care.

Prof. Shlomi Codish, director of the Beersheba hospital, said three critical decisions he made early on Oct. 7 helped shape Soroka’s response throughout the unprecedented day.

First, he and his team decided not to send the night shift home, allowing the hospital to begin the day with twice its normal staffing level. At 7:45 a.m., they declared a mass-casualty incident, despite not yet knowing how many wounded would arrive and alerted all available staff to report to the hospital. Finally, they ordered additional blood supplies in anticipation of the surge of casualties.

“We usually start the shift with 50 units of blood in our blood bank. By the end of the day, we had given 250 units. If we hadn’t ordered additional blood early that morning, we might have run out and people may have died,” Codish told News Media.

Codish said the hospital faced several overwhelming challenges throughout the day, beginning with the sheer number of wounded being brought to the hospital.

“In the first 24 hours, we received 674 wounded people. At the peak, we received more than 80 in a single hour, with an average of just 40 seconds between wounded people arriving,” he said.

“This was one of the largest mass-casualty events resulting from terror in human history. The hospital itself was also under fire, with dozens of incoming missile warnings from the Gaza Strip, while attacks were taking place simultaneously at a very large number of sites,” he added.

The second challenge was the immediate impact of the invasion on hospital staff themselves. “Everyone who came in left a family at home that was potentially under attack. They got into their cars and drove through air-raid sirens in areas that weren’t protected, at significant personal risk, to come in and save lives,” he said.

Another major challenge was maintaining care inside the hospital as the number of casualties surged. The hospital began the day at full capacity, forcing staff to quickly free up intensive care beds and operating rooms for incoming patients. With roads around the hospital unsafe, transferring patients to other facilities was not an option in the first hours of the attack, while sending ambulances into the field risked exposing them to Hamas ambushes.

“When you see babies or children with direct injuries, that is not something you typically see on a battlefield. We saw elderly people with severe wounds inflicted directly, with no protection,” Codish said, reflecting on the brutality he witnessed that day.

“As a medical professional, what we saw was beyond words. Two babies suffering from dehydration after their parents were killed, simply waiting to be rescued — I defy anyone to find a word other than ‘evil’ to describe it,” he added.