12 THE COURIER SUN • APRIL 7, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com police beat COMPILED BY ALAN BURTON, KATARINA HYBENOVA, ANGELA MATUA AND ERICA SIUDZINSKI Wet Basement? Call artie Basement Water Proofing Specialist Serving Queens for 35 Years For more information contact Artie DiBiase Mason Contractor 718.767.0072 Licensed #08097 and Insured North Shore Animal League America has HUNDREDS of puppies, kittens, dogs and cats to choose from! Mixed-breeds, purebreds, small breeds too! OPEN DAILY FOR ADOPTIONS SUN - THURS 10 AM - 9 PM FRI - SAT 10 AM - 10 PM 25 Davis Avenue, Port Washington, NY 516.883.7575 animalleague.org FOLLOW US: 103RD PRECINCT Jamaica Jamaica man sought for shooting man in neck Police are seeking the public’s help in fi nding the suspect who shot a 19-year-old man in Jamaica last month. The NYPD is looking for Brandon Ford, a 20-year-old resident of 150th Street in Jamaica, who allegedly shot the victim in front of a home on Yates Road at about 9:18 a.m. on March 11. According to authorities, Ford walked up to the victim from behind shot him once in the back of his neck, then fl ed the scene westbound on Yates Avenue. The victim was transported to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition. Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confi dential. 106TH PRECINCT South Queens Ozone Park fi rebug gets busted A serial arsonist believed to have set fi re to three Ozone Park homes was apprehended last week. Sal Manzella, 55, was picked up at the scene of a fi re on 92nd Street at 12:30 a.m. on March 31. Authorities said Manzella allegedly tried to pass himself off as a witness, telling police he had seen a man in a white vehicle fi re bomb the house before speeding away. After taking his information and letting him go, police responded to another blaze at 103rd Avenue just hours later at 4 a.m. Surveillance footage from a nearby camera showed a man on the porch of the house using an accelerant to set the fi re, who the police soon identifi ed as Manzella. The NYPD and FDNY fi re marshals were quick to question Manzella. Though he is currently only being charged with the 92nd Street arson, Manzella is also expected to be charged with both the 92nd Street blaze and a 94th Street fi re that occurred earlier that evening, around midnight. St. Albans woman convicted of scalding baby A St. Albans resident has been convicted of depraved assault among other crimes after her 19-month-old foster son was discovered to have sustained severe burns to his legs following being scalded by the mother, says District Attorney Richard Brown. The defendant, identifi ed as 35-yearold Shirley Verneus of 203rd St. in St. Albans, Queens, was convicted of first-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child after a two-week trial by jury. Verneus is due back in court for sentencing on April 12 where she faces up to 25 years in prison. According to the charges, Verneus brought the child to a routine visit on Jan. 17, 2014 with the then-19- month-old’s biological parents at the St. Christopher Ottile Foster Agency. A caseworker noticed the child’s legs were wrapped in bandages and asked Verneus what had happened. Verneus said that she heard the child screaming from another room of the house when she found the boy sitting in the bathtub with the hot water running. She claimed that she removed the boy from the bathtub and noticed that his skin was peeling off before taking him to a medical clinic. However, Verneus couldn’t provide any record of the visit nor did she report the incident to the foster care agency. The day of the visit with the child’s biological parents, the child was taken to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Burn Unit with second- and third-degree burns. Further examination revealed that the child will suffer permanent scarring. He will also need physical therapy because of the severity of the burns. Additional medical evidence also confi rmed that Verneus did act in a reckless manner by not seeking medical attention for over a week resulting in further complications, including the potential for lifethreatening infections. “As a caregiver with the sole responsibility for the life and safety of a young child, the defendant had an obligation to provide a safe environment and to keep him from harm,” Brown said in a statement. “Instead she has been convicted of acting in a depraved manner by allowing the child to sit in scalding hot water.” Queens prosecutors save a suicidal man Three Queens prosecutors came to the aid of a distressed person outside of the courtroom last Friday when they stepped in to save a man who was trying to hang himself outside of Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens. Assistant District Attorneys Andrea M. Mauro, Jason S. Trager and Gabriel Mendoza were leaving the Kew Gardens building just before 1 p.m. on April 1 when they saw a man tying one end of a rope to a tree and the other end on his neck. According to District Attorney Richard A. Brown, the prosecutors grabbed the man, who was in his late 50s or early 60s, just as the rope was tightening. Trager untied the rope from the tree and Mendoza untied the rope from the man’s neck. “The assistant district attorneys in this offi ce do a tremendous job each day of seeking justice for victims of crimes, but these three prosecutors went above and beyond the call of duty by stepping in to save a man who was obviously distraught and in desperate need,” Brown said. “I am extremely proud of their actions.” The man was taken to a local hospital by police for observation and treatment. It was not immediately clear what motivated the man to hurt himself. “The man collapsed on the ground crying, gasping for air,” Trager said. “We are relieved that we were able to get him down from the tree in time. It was very sad and shocking.”
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