COURIER L 22 IFE, MAY 21-27, 2021
Flatbush landlord
indicted for role
in fatal fi re
BY MEAGHAN
MCGOLDRICK
A Flatbush landlord
was indicted Thursday
on charges of manslaughter
and child endangerment
stemming from a
fatal fi re that killed the
tenant of his illegallysubdivided
apartment in
December of 2019.
Evener Leon, 62, was
arraigned May 13 in
connection to the Dec. 2
blaze, which broke out
inside 1776 Nostrand
Ave., between Clarendon
Road and Avenue D.
According to District
Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s
offi ce, Leon owned
the building — a threestory,
two-family dwelling
with commercial
space on the fi rst fl oor —
and lived in the secondfl
oor apartment with his
family. The third-fl oor
apartment was divided
into four illegal apartments
occupied by seven
adults and four children.
What fi re offi cials
later deemed an electrical
fi re broke out in Leon’s
unit in the middle
of the night, according to
the DA’s offi ce, and eventually
spread to the third
fl oor, where eight adults
and fi ve children were
sleeping. Most suffered
smoke inhalation and
other injuries as they
crowded onto a rear fi re
escape, but one tenant —
70-year-old Jean Yves Lalanne
— was trapped by
the fi re in what fi refi ghters
refer to as a “dead
man’s room.”
The blaze engulfed
the stairwell, leaving
Lalanne with no exit.
The victim jumped to
his death from the thirdfl
oor window, the DA
said.
The Department of
Buildings determined
that the defendant did
not have free and unobstructed
access to exits.
Additionally, there
were no sprinkler heads
on the second or third
fl oors, and there were no
fi re-proof or self-closing
doors on the third fl oor.
“This defendant was
Firefi ghters battle the blaze
in December, 2019. Citizen
well aware of the dangers
he allegedly created
and allowed to persist,
but tragically and disastrously
chose to disregard
building safety regulations
leaving a tenant
with no way to escape
the fi re,” the DA said in
a statement. “His alleged
reckless disregard for
the law and his failure to
protect his tenants cost a
man his life. We will now
seek to hold him accountable
for his actions.”
Offi cials said the fi re
was caused by a space
heater — something,
the DA alleges, Leon
provided his tenants in
place of proper gas or
heat after the defendant
stopped paying utility
bills years before the incident.
“When critical safety
regulations are ignored
and apartments are illegally
subdivided, lives
are needlessly placed in
danger,” said New York
City Fire Commissioner
Daniel Nigro in a statement.
“In this instance,
a life was tragically lost
due to fi re ... We hope
this incident will prevent
future tragedies
from occurring.”
Leon was arraigned
May 13 before Brooklyn
Supreme Court Justice
Danny Chun on a sevencount
indictment which
includes charges of manslaughter,
criminally
negligent homicide, second
degree endangerment
and endangering
the welfare of a child.
He faces up to 15 years
in prison if convicted of
the top count.
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