Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Fear Spreading Among Co-op City Residents Over Leg...

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Fear Spreading Among Co-op City Residents Over Leg...: Fear Spreading Among Co-op City Residents Over Legionnaires Outbreak #Legionnaires #Co-opCity By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY...

Fear Spreading Among Co-op City Residents Over Legionnaires Outbreak

Fear Spreading Among Co-op City Residents Over Legionnaires Outbreak

#Legionnaires #Co-opCity

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 14- A Co-op City couple recounted how their son almost died from Legionnaires’ Disease in early-December.

The victim’s father, who wished to remain unidentified in spoke out about the travails of his son, who is in his 20s, at the town-hall meeting that was held in the auditorium of the Dreiser Loop Community Center.

After the meeting, the victims’ parents elaborated on what their son has been going through in an interview with Co-op City’s only independent community newspaper.

“My son, starting on December 4, spent nine days in the Intensive Care Unit of Jacobi Hospital,” the still-sick man’s mother noted. “I can’t say enough good things about the care he got at Jacobi Hospital, which saved his life. My son still has slurred speech, but my husband and I are confident that he will make a full recovery. We are confident because of our faith in God.”

The sick man’s father stressed, “My son’s whole body, in essence, shut down as a result of Legionnaires’ Disease. He does smoke, but he is certainly not an older person. He was in excellent health before he got sick on December 4, and he certainly is in no condition to go back to work, even at this point.”

The sick man’s mother noted, “My son played just about every conceivable sport when he was growing up, including football, baseball and basketball. He was an exceptional health before he got sick and his whole system shut down. His condition was diagnosed early on, but he is still not close to being his old self.”

Speaking to a capacity crowd of concerned shareholders at the Dreiser Loop Community Center, a spokeswoman for the city’s Health Department said, Tuesday, that two-thirds of 12 recent cases of Legionnaires’ Disease have been reported in Co-op City.

Dr. Sharon Balter, a leading epidemiologist for the Health Department, spoke out after preliminary tests showed that the power plant’s cooling tower, which supplies air-conditioning and heating to shareholders, was contaminated with the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ Disease. Results from more conclusive tests are expected within 10 days.

The cooling tower, which has been shut down pending its cleaning and disinfection by Co-op City’s management, is separate and apart from the systems that carry water, as well as hot water, to the community’s shareholders.

Continuing tests by personnel associated with the Riverbay Corporation and the Health Department are in the offing in an effort to safeguard the health of those who live and work in the local community.

Legionnaires’ Disease can be spread through mists from water sources, such as showerheads, water faucets, or convectors. However, Dr. Balter noted that the disease, which is not spread through person-to-person contact. is usually treatable with the same antibiotics that are used to treat less serious forms of pneumonia, the flu, and an assortment of bacteria that cause severe sore throats.

However, many among the crowd of 600 were extremely uneasy, especially after the father of a victim, who lives at 100 Darrow Place spoke about how his son, who is in his 20s, almost died from Legionnaires’ Disease and continues to have impaired speech more than a month after first contracting the disease.

Dr. Balter, for her part, said that there is no clear-cut way of knowing who will get the disease and who will not, but that there are a number of risk factors. The elderly, smokers, and those with compromised immune systems are more likely to get the disease, the epidemiologist noted.

Riverbay president Cleve Taylor said, this week, that the price tag associated with the cleanup necessitated by eight recent cases of Legionnaires’ Disease here will be at least $1 million.

The major part of the cost is associated with the shutdown of the power plant’s cooling tower, which is used to supply heating and air-conditioning to the community.

With the shutdown of this tower, Co-op City will be forced to get its heat through Con Edison. The additional cost for this temporary changeover is $770,000 for a two-week period.

Also, the problem with the cooling tower, which the Health Department has identified in preliminary tests, is going to necessitate increased testing at the Riverbay Corporation’s expense.

One aspect of the increased costs is the hiring of an environmental consultant, with a specialization in Legionnaires’ Disease, to assess what’s been happening in the local community.

It appears, at this point, that a lack of preventive maintenance on the part of the Riverbay Corporation’s management, which Marion Scott Real Estate, Inc., controlled for 15 years, could have contributed to the problems and added costs that Co-op City’s management now faces.

Critics of the Scott firm have charged, in recent years, that Freedman and his cohorts neglected preventive maintenance in the community in an effort to keep costs down and carrying charges low.

Keeping carrying charges at low levels, for years, had been a centerpiece of the Scott firm’s strategy to maintain control of Co-op City’s management.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Worker Killed in Freak Accident

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Worker Killed in Freak Accident: Worker Killed in Freak Accident #NYPD #FreakAccident By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 14- Investigators continue to piece together...

Worker Killed in Freak Accident

Worker Killed in Freak Accident

#NYPD #FreakAccident

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 14- Investigators continue to piece together the events that led up to a worker being sucked into a cement-mixer in Hunts Point. Officials say the man died instantly.

Officers from the 41st Precinct were called to the intersection of Fox Street and Simpson Street in the Hunts Point section at 1:21 p.m. on January 6.

Cops say the victim was "unconscious and unresponsive," with severe trauma to his body. Officials would use a sheet to cover the gruesome scene as they investigated.

After a preliminary investigation conducted by the NYPD's Crash Investigation Squad, officials say the victim, identified as Edraz Lopez, 46, of Queens, NY., was having a mechanical problem with his 1996 Freightliner cement truck.

One police source explained, "When the victim went underneath the vehicle he became pinned in the rotating cement mixer.”

Paramedics arrived and quickly pronounced Lopez dead at the scene.

Lopez, who worked for Cova Concrete Corporation in Jamaica, NY., was delivering the cement to a construction site at the location at the time of his death.

Calls to Cova went straight to voice-mail, where a voice offered,

"Happy Holidays." The company later declined to comment on the incident.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pain in the Ass Gunman Caught on Tape

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Pain in the Ass Gunman Caught on Tape: Pain in the Ass Gunman Caught on Tape #NYPD #Gunman BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 14- Cops are looking for a real dumb ass who was caught on tap...

Pain in the Ass Gunman Caught on Tape

Pain in the Ass Gunman Caught on Tape

#NYPD #Gunman

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 14- Cops are looking for a real dumb ass who was caught on tape shooting a man in front of his home.

Surveillance video shows the man pulling out a revolver and opening fire at around 11:55 p.m. on December 19. Cops say the gunman targeted his victim as the man stood outside his Sedgwick Avenue home. One bullet struck the victim in his buttocks.

The gunman is described as Hispanic with a light complexion. 

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are confidential.

Grand Jury Indicts 'Cop Shooter'

Grand Jury Indicts 'Cop Shooter'

#CopShooter #NYPD

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 13- District Attorney Robert Johnson announced that a Grand Jury has indicted alleged cop shooter Jason Polanco

and Joshua Kemp, who was involved in the robbery of a bodega, in the January 5^th, 2015 incident during which Polanco allegedly brandished a firearm, shooting Police Officers 

Andrew Dossi and Aliro Pellarano, as well as firing at three other uniformed members of the NYPD.  

The Grand Jury voted a true bill, charging 24-year-old Jason “Jin”  Polanco with:

Attempted murder in the first degree (A Felony, 5 counts)

Attempted murder in the second degree (A Felony, 2 counts)

Robbery in the first degree (B Felony)

Criminal use of a firearm in the first degree (B Felony)

Assault in the first degree (B Felony)

Robbery in the second degree (C Felony, 2 counts)

Attempted assault in the first degree (C Felony, 2 counts)

Criminal use of a firearm in the second degree (C Felony)

Criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree (C Felony, 2 counts)

Robbery in the third degree (D Felony)

Grand larceny in the fourth degree (E Felony)

Criminal possession of a firearm (E Felony)

Criminal possession of Stolen property in the fourth degree (E Felony)

Additional charges are still pending against Jason Polanco

The Grand Jury charged 28-year-old Joshua Kemp with:

Robbery in the first degree (B Felony, 2 counts)

Robbery in the second degree (C Felony, 2 counts)

Robbery in the third degree (D Felony)

Burglary in the second degree (C Felony)

Burglary in the third degree (D Felony)

Petit larceny (A Misdemeanor)

Criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree (A Misdemeanor)

Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree (A Misdemeanor).

It is alleged that Kemp robbed a bodega at 363 East 180^th Street in the Fordham section of the Bronx just before 10:30 p.m. on January 5^th,  jumping over the counter to grab cash. Polanco is not yet charged with that crime.

Fleeing four blocks away onto Tiebout Avenue and changing their clothing inside a building along the way, Polanco entered a Chinese restaurant. Kemp remained outside, where police responding to the robbery call approached him. Polanc is accused of turning and firing, all the while approaching the officers outside the eatery.  His bullets hit and wounded Officers Dossi and Pellarano, but missed three other uniformed officers.  

One of Polanco's bullets also hit his accomplice.  Kemp and Polanco fled onto Marion Avenue but then split up, the shooter continuing down the street where he spotted two individuals seated inside a 2015 Camaro.  

Polanco is charged with ordering the pair to exit the car. He then pulled the trigger on his firearm – the gun clicked, but failed to fire. Taking off in the Camaro, Polanco crashed a few blocks away.

Polanco is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on Tuesday, March 3rd, in Part 60 before Justice Steven Barrett; Kemp will be arraigned on Tuesday, March 10 ^th, also in Part 60.

The charges contained in the indictment are allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.