8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 4, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Attack on transgender activists in Jack. Hts. rocks LGBT residents
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e irony was not lost on activists
Bianey Garcia and Norma Ureiro when
they were attacked with pepper spray in
Jackson Heights while making a documentary
about the experiences of transgender
people on June 29.
Aft er a brief stint in Elmhurst
Hospital, Garcia and Ureiro spoke at
a rally about their recent experience
alleging that the police did not adequately
respond to the attack which
began as a salvo of slurs before it escalated
further.
“We were doing a documentary in
Jackson Heights to demonstrate the violence
against transgender people and
high levels of police harassment,” Garcia
said through an interpreter. “Th ere was
a woman and a man who started harassing
us and saying slurs. Th ey called us
‘f—-ts’ and then said women like us
only promote prostitution, but it is only
because of the clothes we were wearing.”
Garcia said the woman — identifi
ed by police as Paola Custodio, 24 —
allegedly took out pepper spray and hit
Garcia in the back with the liquid.
Aft er the police were called, Garcia
alleges that offi cers claimed the substance
was only water and took no further
action against the two individuals.
“Th ey didn’t believe us. Th ey said it
was just water and asked if we had actually
seen the pepper spray,” Garcia continued.
“Ultimately, the woman was
arrested but it was because she was
being aggressive with the police offi cers.
It was not related to us.”
According to Garcia, she and the
other fi lmmakers left the area to return
to 82nd Street later. But the male Garcia
claims was harassing them also returned
and pepper sprayed them in the face.
Garcia is an organizer with Make the
Road NY; Matteo Guerrero, who led the
rally representing the organization, said
video of the incident was recorded by
the documentary crew but would not be
released until a later time.
Tiffany Cabán, a queer Latina
Democratic candidate for Queens district
attorney and the apparent winner
of last week’s Democratic primary for
the post,attended the rally.
“When someone attacks our community,
we absolutely cannot stay silent.
We must stand up together against
transphobia in Queens, against attacks
on our community, against harassment
and hatred,” Cabán said. “When I ran
for district attorney of Queens, I ran
for these communities: for people who
have been ignored, or unprotected by
our criminal justice system. It is absolutely
unacceptable that we have anyone
in these communities denied access to
equal protection under the law.”
According to NYPD, Garcia’s story is
“all confi rmed.”
Custodio, 24, an Elmhurst resident,
was taken into custody at 3:49 a.m.
on June 29, NYPD said, and she was
charged with assault as a hate crime
harassment.
Custodio was previously arrested on
Feb. 24 and faces a felony conviction
for burglary and criminal mischief with
intent to damage property. Th is case
was last adjourned on June 20 and she is
set to return to Queens Criminal Court
in August.
Retired cop, 9/11 activist Alvarez mourned in Astoria
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A funeral mass was held Wednesday
morning, July 3, at Immaculate
Conception Church in Astoria for former
NYPD detective Luis Alvarez, a
9/11 fi rst responder who died in hospice
Saturday morning.
Alvarez, 53, succumbed to colorectal
and liver cancer he had battled for the
last three years, and his death came just
weeks aft er his emotional testimony in
Congress urging them to extend the 9/11
Victims Compensation Fund that would
cover health benefi ts to fi rst responders
and survivors, which is projected to run
out of funding next year.
Alvarez was born in Havana, Cuba,
and raised in the Ditmars section of
Astoria. He graduated from Monsignor
McClancy Memorial High School in East
Elmhurst in 1983 before serving in the
U.S. Marine Corps.
He joined the NYPD in 1990, where
he was assigned to the 108th Precinct in
Long Island City. Aft er responding to the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Alvarez
spent three months on the pile searching
for survivors and remains while breathing
in the toxic dust that has claimed the
lives of nearly 400 fi rst responders who
battled 9/11-related cancers and other
respiratory diseases.
More than 2,000 active FDNY personnel
and nearly 1,000 members of the
NYPD have been forced into early retirement
due to debilitating 9/11 illnesses.
Alvarez gained national recognition
on June 11, where he and former Daily
Show host Jon Stewart testifi ed before a
House committee urging that the 9/11
Victims Compensation Fund continue
to be funded.
“Less than 24 hours from now I will be
starting my 69th round of chemotherapy,
yeah, you heard that correctly,” Alvarez
testifi ed. “I will not stand by and watch as
my friends with cancer from 9/11 like me
are valued less than anyone else.”
Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
Sitting alongside Stewart for his testimony,
Alvarez told the fi ve members of
Congress who attended the hearing, “You
all said you would never forget. Well, I’m
here to make sure that you don’t.”
Th e following day the House Judiciary
Committee voted unanimously to bass the
bill restoring the VCF. Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney championed the VCF
and worked closely with Alvarez over
the years.
“Det. Alvarez is by every defi nition
a true American hero,” she wrote on
Twitter. “It is one of the honors of my life
that I got to work with him & call him
a friend.”
John Feal, a fi erce 9/11 activist and
fi rst responder at Ground Zero called on
Mayor Bill de Blasio to present Alvarez
the key to the city during an appearance
on CNN.
Alvarez entered hospice in Rockville
Centre, Long Island on June 20. Five
days later, Feal and his team returned to
Washington for a meeting with Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
who committed to bringing the bill to
a vote in the Senate aft er Feal gave him
Alvarez’s detective shield to remind that
fi rst responders are still dying from 9/11.
Alvarez was survived by his wife,
Alaine; his sons, David, Tyler and
Benjamin; his parents, Felipe and Aida;
his brothers Philip and Fernando; and his
sister, Aida Lugo.
Courtesy of Maloney’s offi ce
Retired Detective Luis Alvarez with
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
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