C R Y D E R P O I N T 16 MAY BY LIAM LA GUERRE Being an NYPD officer goes further than just catching bad guys — it’s about helping the victims. Cops from the 109th Precinct in Flushing reached into their pockets to help out 71-year-old twin sisters who were robbed of their monthly income, the NYPD said on its Facebook page. The women were on their way home from a bank in Flushing on April 5 when they were followed into an elevator in their apartment building by Salvador Morales, who knocked them to the floor and stole the $1,100 in Social Security aid they just received, the NYPD said. One of the sisters suffered a fractured bone in her leg, and both were transported to New York Hospital Queens. After word of the crime spread through the precinct, Police Officer Anthony Lo Verme and Detective Kevin O’Donnell collected about $500 from their colleagues and donated the money in person to the victims, the police said. “When we heard that they had just lost their entire monthly income we all knew we had to help,” O’Donnell said. Morales, a 58-year-old man from Manhattan, was arrested in 16 CRYDER POINT COURIER | MAY 2014 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM Brooklyn and has been charged with burglary, robbery and assault. Police were able to identify him from similar burglaries he pulled off in Coney Island in Brooklyn wearing the same “mask-and-hat get-up,” police said. Morales has at least 11 prior arrests for burglaries dating back to 1989, authorities said. The cops visited the women, who are still recovering, and handed the money to them at their bedsides. “Cops in New York City do things like this each and every day,” said Inspector Brian Maguire of the 109th Precinct. “I love the fact that my officers took it upon themselves and they rose to the occasion.” Whitestone Bridge art contest winners announced BY LIAM LA GUERRE The winners of the Welcome to Whitestone Civic Association’s Bronx-Whitestone Bridge drawing contest were announced and honored in Councilman Paul Vallone’s office on May 12. More than 300 elementary students entered the art competition, which honored the 75th anniversary of the bridge, but only five were selected as winners. P.S. 79 fourth-graders Athena Koutsothanasis, Mei Jiang and Joanna Li were winners, as well as P.S. 193 fifth-grader Nicholas Berry and Ellie Choe of P.S. 209. “It was kind of scary, because I didn’t know if I would get it,” Nicholas said about the contest. “I was really surprised that I was able to win.” The art competition challenged Whitestone elementary schools students to draw — in any form — a version of the bridge on an 8.5- by-11 sheet of paper. They also had to include a reference to the 75th anniversary in their artwork. Each winner received a City Council citation from Vallone, a $50 check from Welcome to Whitestone and a $10 gift card from Dunkin’ Donuts. The winners were judged by Devon Michael O’Connor, Five elementary school students were winners of the Welcome to Whitestone Civic Association’s Bronx-Whitestone Bridge drawing contest. founder of Welcome to Whitestone, MTA’s Director of Bridges East Raymond Webb and Vallone. All of the entries in the contest will be on display in the Queens Library’s Whitestone Branch for the public to view. 109TH PRECINCT donates $500 to elderly victims of robbery Photo courtesy NYPD Detective O’Donnell and Police Offi cer Lo Verme of the 109th Precinct started the collection for the victims. THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre
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