8 AUGUST 17, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Driver smashes into a tree on the
Jackie Robinson Parkway in Queens
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
EDAVENPORT@QNS.COM @QNS
Police are investigating a crash
that left a man in serious condition
on the Jackie Robinson Parkway
in Glendale over the weekend that
left a man with serious injuries.
According to police, at around
noon on Aug. 12, offi cers from the
104th Precinctresponded to a 911
call of a vehicle collision on the
parkway’s westbound lanes between
Exits 3 and 4 (Cypress Hills Street
and Forest Park Drive, respectively).
Upon their arrival, they found
a 21-year-old man unconscious and
unresponsive inside a BMW on the
side of the highway.
EMS responded to the scene and
transported the victim to Jamaica
Hospital in serious condition.
A preliminary investigation found
that the victim was driving westbound
on the Jackie Robinson Parkway at a
high rate of speed when he lost control
of his vehicle and collided with a tree.
The investigation is ongoing.
Street fight
in Ridgewood
leaves man
in a coma
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
A Ridgewood man is being
held without bail on attempted
murder charges
for his alleged role in a brawl at
a neighborhood intersection that
left two people injured — including
one man who wound up in a
coma, police said.
According to the criminal complaint
provided by the Queens
District Attorney’s offi ce, Orlando
Marrero, 24, of Norman Street,
was among a group of up to fi ve
individuals who confronted the
two victims and an unidentifi ed
person — each of whom were carrying
sticks — at the intersection of
Norman Street and Seneca Avenue
at about 6 a.m. on the morning of
Aug. 7.
Prosecutors said that Marrero’s
group allegedly took the
sticks away from the three individuals
and proceeded to strike
them with the weapons. They
also punched and kicked them
about their heads and bodies.
During the alleged assault, the
complaint noted, one of the unapprehended
men in Marrero’s
group allegedly ripped a gold
chain off of one of the victims’
necks, while another removed
a bracelet from another victim’s
wrist.
Offi cers from the 104th Precinct
responded to the incident. Two
of the three attacked individuals
were removed to a local hospital
with multiple skull fractures; one
of them also suff ered bleeding to the
brain, multiple seizures and is now
in a coma.
Based on an ongoing investigation,
Marrero was picked up on
Aug. 11 on charges of two counts of
second-degree attempted murder,
two counts of fi rst-degree gang
assault, two counts of fi rst-degree
assault, two counts of first-degree
robbery, and one count of
fourth-degree criminal possession
of a weapon.
Marrero was ordered held
without bail and must return to
Queens Criminal Court on Sept.
11, prosecutors said.
City Council honors detectives for cracking
Forest Park sexual assault case
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
Members of the NYPD
Special Victims Division
who helped to lock up a
Richmond Hillman believed to be
responsible for six sex assaults in
Forest Park were honored by the
City Council this week for their
crime-solving eff orts.
Police arrested Mark Andrade, 46,
on Aug. 2 for the March 29, 2013, attack
and sexual assault of a 24-year-old
woman who was jogging through the
park. Detectives are continuing to investigate
a possible connection to Andrade
and fi ve similar incidents that
took place inside the park between
March of 2011 and August of 2013.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
and other members of the City Council
thanked the offi cers from the
NYPD’s Forest Park Stranger Rape
Pattern Investigation Team of the
Special Victims Division on Aug. 9
for their hard work and dedication to
protecting the people who use Forest
Park each day.
The Forest Park Stranger Rape
Pattern Investigation Team is comprised
of 32 members led by Deputy
Photo courtesy of Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley's offi ce
Members of the City Council honored the Forest Park Stranger Rape
Pattern Investigation Team for their work to solve multiple sexual
assault cases within Forest Park.
Chief Michael Osgood, Sergeant
George Fountoulakis and Detective
James Menton worked for fi ve years
investigating these sexual assaults
by interviewing hundreds of people,
inspecting video footage from
numerous locations around the
park, and conducting several other
investigational methods.
Eventually police were able to
match Andrade’s DNA found from a
beer bottle found near the scene of
the alleged March 29, 2013 assault to
the sample he submitted aft er being
charged with grand larceny in Nassau
County.
“For years, park goers visiting Forest
Park in Queens and residents of
the surrounding community knew
there was a sexual predator on the
loose. This threat lingered in the
back of peoples’ minds,” Crowley
said. “Today parkgoers can now rest
more assured of their safety, because
of the NYPD Special Victims Division
Squad. This is just one more shining
example of our police offi cers’ service
to our city.”
Photo by Mari Estrella
