Read more news every day at Queens' powerful news source, QNS.com
NYC's Largest Real Estate Section
SINCE 1908
50¢
VOL. 111, NO. -23 JANUARY 2-8, 2020
WHAT TO WATCH
FOR IN 2020
The top stories to follow heading
into the new year
Middle Village
street renamed
for ‘guardian’
Page 11
Iconic
pizzeria eyes
reopening
Page 3
See Inside
Two boys rescued
from Forest Park
pond after falling
through ice: FDNY
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Two boys, ages 9 and 12, had to be rescued on
Christmas Day aft er the ice they were walking
on gave way, plunging them into the waters
of Strack Memorial Pond in Woodhaven’s Forest
Park around 3 p.m., according to the FDNY.
A quick-thinking third boy grabbed a Parks
Department rescue ladder and used it to help the
boys out of the chilly pond before the FDNY and
NYPD arrived on scene.
The ladder was positioned near the pond
aft er a Glendale boy, 11-year-old Anthony Perez,
drowned while rescuing another boy, 12-year-old
Juan Umpierrez, who had fallen through the ice
at Strack Memorial Pond in February 2018. Perez
had rushed in to pull his friend to safety, but he
couldn’t get himself back out of the water and
became trapped under the ice for up to half and
hour while his Umpierrez ran to fi nd help.
When fi rst responders arrived on the scene,
fi refi ghters had to break through the ice with their
hands and then went into the water to pull Perez
out. Rescuers performed CPR to try and revive the
boy, but they were unable to save him.
He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he
was pronounced dead. The two boys who fell
through the ice on Christmas Day led away from
Strack Memorial Pond by fi refi ghters who tried to
warm them with white towels and FDNY turnout
coats. They were transported to Jamaica Hospital
where they were treated for exposure and nonlife
threatening injuries, according to an NYPD
spokesman. They are expected to make full recoveries,
authorities said.
Ridgewood’s most famous arena revival and its link to WWE history : See Pages 20 and 21
link
/QNS.com
link