4 The Courier sun • AUGUST 8, 2013 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com Police hope pix help nab perp BY LIAM LA GUERE lguerre@queenscourier.com Police have released new photos of a person wanted for questioning Need To See A Doctor Can’t Wait? IMMEDIATE MEDICAL CARE WE TREAT MOST COMMON MEDICAL CONDITIONS INCLUDING: Orthopedic Injuries · Sprains & Fractures · Suturing Wounds, Burns & Cuts · On-Site Digital X-Rays FIRST+MED – GLENDALE 82-17 Woodhaven Blvd. Glendale, NY 11385 718-805-9581 Mon.-Fri.: 9am-7pm Sat. & Sun.: 9am-3pm WE SPECIALIZE IN BEING OPEN Winner 2013 WE NOW ACCEPT ALL BC/BS PLANS. OTHER INSURANCES INCLUDE: GHI, GHI ACCESS, AETNA, CIGNA, HIP, VYTRA, MEDICARE, EMBLEM HEALTH, HEALTHNET GUARDIAN, MAGNICARE, POSTAL, W/C, NO FAULT UNITED HEALTH CARE, EXCEPT COMMUNITY AND ALL OXFORD, EXCEPT MOSAIC Best Urgent Care FIRST+MED – BAYSIDE 191-20 Northern Blvd. Flushing, NY 11358 718-224-8855 Mon.-Fri.: 8am-9pm Sat. & Sun.: 8am-7pm st of the 2013 THE QUEENS QueensCourier.com Place FIRST+MED LIFE & DEATH MAN WAITS HALF HOUR FOR HELP BY MAGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com A concerned community is responding to what they say is a “worrisome” and “life or death” situation. Ralph Franzese, 87, was walking from his Ozone Park home to his car parked outside on 133rd Avenue last Tuesday, July 30. Despite having his walker for stability, Franzese fell backwards, cracking his head on the sidewalk. He then waited nearly a half hour for an ambulance, according to the FDNY. A teen girl walking by saw the fall and ran to Franzese’s aid. Others nearby gathered around the senior and called 9-1-1. While they waited for what was estimated to be 10 to 15 minutes, Frank Dardani, resident and president of the Ozone Tudor Civic, arrived on the scene and called for an ambulance a second time, he said. The wait continued for roughly another 15 minutes, and an EMS team arrived, amounting to a wait time of 26 minutes. “From my understanding, response time for emergencies is supposed to be four-and-a-half minutes. That’s out the window,” Dardani said. “What the real numbers are right now – that’s scary.” The initial 9-1-1 call was made at 4:24 p.m. An ambulance arrived at 4:50 p.m., according to an FDNY spokesperson. “Those had to be the longest 26 minutes,” said State Senator Joseph Addabbo, whose own home is just around the corner from Franzese’s. “Response time is life or death.” During the wait, Dardani said Franzese was “very jittery” and did not want to sit still. The elderly man has a low-grade dementia, he said, and did not want to go to the hospital. Neighbors worked to keep him calm and still. When the ambulance arrived, EMS workers emerged and said they came from Woodside, which ultimately caused the long wait. “We get an ambulance from Woodside?” Addabbo said. “That makes no sense.” Just a few blocks away, on 133rd Avenue near 95th Street, is the Lindenwood Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Franzese was near 87th Street. However, the group doesn’t receive 9-1-1 calls and did not pick anything up on its scanner. The 9-1-1 response time was recently criticized in July after a teen fainted at City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s press conference and waited more than a half hour for an ambulance. Franzese was eventually bandaged and brought to Jamaica Hospital. Dardani said he is “doing fine” and no problems were found aside from a head wound and swelling. MEN HONORED FOR RETURNING WOMAN’S LIFE SAVINGS BY MAGIE HAYES mhayes@queenscourier.com A stash of cash in a junkyard earned two Ozone Park men honors from the borough president. Michael Downer and Fred Alsterberg were honored by Borough President Helen Marshall for finding and returning a woman’s life savings that were accidentally trashed. Magda Castillo stashed roughly $5,000 in a nonfunctioning refrigerator that she stored in her home. Downer, manager at Atlantic Recycling, an Ozone Park scrapyard, said two weeks ago Castillo’s boyfriend and sister brought in the old appliance for cash. The next morning, Castillo, who is in her 60s, showed up to explain the mix-up. Alsterberg, an employee at the yard, helped her look for the refrigerator, but it had already been scrapped and crushed. The next day, Downer found the old fridge crushed in between two cars, and the cash lying nearby. Without a way to reach Castillo, he and Alsterberg contacted local media and put out a notice, hoping she would see they had recovered her money. She came by a couple of days later and was given back her savings, Downer said. “I commend Downer and Alsterberg for their honesty and for their determination in making sure this lost cash was returned to the right person,” Marshall said. “They understood how important it was to return the money and were willing to make the extra effort to find it and locate the woman who lost it. They deserve our praise and admiration.” In their two years at Atlantic Recycling, Downer and Alsterberg have found wallets, prescriptions, bills and more left behind in the “junk” people bring by, but never anything of this caliber. Marshall awarded the two men a Citations of Honor at Borough Hall on Wednesday, July 31. Downer, however, maintains his modesty. “It shouldn’t be an amazing feat for someone to give back something that’s not theirs,” he said. “Everybody should do that.” in the brutal stabbing of a Woodhaven teen last week. The pictures, circulated on Tuesday, August 6, are the latest actions taken by police to catch the suspect, who violently stabbed Natasha Martinez, 17, nearly a dozen times while she was returning home from work on Monday, July 29 at approximately 11:30 p.m. The perpetrator stabbed Martinez in her back and torso, cops said, and she was rushed to Jamaica Hospital. Martinez is still in the hospital in stable condition, according to authorities. Residents around the area are frightened about the incident and hope the suspect is caught soon. “For 22 years I’ve been living here and this is the first time I’ve been sacred,” said Niki Rampaul. A black male with a light-colored hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans is seen in the new pictures released. In early reports witnesses described the attacker as approximately 5’6” tall and 150 pounds. On Monday, August 5 police said they had a man in custody and were questioning him about the crime. That person was later released and no charges were filed. Cops also released a video of a man believed to have a connection with the stabbing. Additionally, signs have been posted around the neighborhood, detailing a $12,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the crime may be connected to another stabbing a few neighborhoods away. “We’re seeing if there is a pattern here,” Kelly said last week, referring to Kerline Denizard, 36, who was seriously wounded when a vicious attacker cut her neck and torso with a knife in Queens Village in June. Like Martinez, Denizard survived the attack. Neighbors who have lived in Woodhaven for more than a decade said they have seen a decline in community. “You just see different type of people,” said resident Linda Sanchez. “They don’t care about where they live.” Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS Photo Courtesy of NYPD Police released photos of a person wanted for questioning in the stabbing of a Woodhaven teen.
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