4 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 23, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo via Google Maps
Police investigate the totaled Acura involved
in a deadly, six-car pileup on the Van Wyck
The Western Beef store at 44-44 College Point Blvd. in Flushing recently closed its doors.
Expressway on Aug. 18. Where’s the Western Beef? Not in Flushing
Heroic cat rescue over the weekend
ends happily for a furry feline in Astoria
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Members of the NYPD and FDNY in
Astoria can add another skill to their
resumes: cat rescuers.
On Aug. 20, the 114th Precinct posted
on its Twitter account a heartwarming
series of photos that showed the result
of a team kitten rescue eff ort in Astoria,
writing, “A CATastrophe was avoided
when Sector D and @FDNY Engine 260
rescued a kitten that was trapped in the
engine of a vehicle. Th e lucky is doing
fi ne #Astoria #Queens.”
Police sources said that offi cers from
the 114th Precinct observed two women
who appeared to be “looking for something”
on Saturday, Aug. 18. Th e women
advised the offi cers that they believed a
cat was stuck in the engine of a car, located
on 41st Avenue between 21st Street
and 12th Street.
Firefi ghters from FDNY Engine 260
arrived on the scene and removed the
black and white kitten from inside the
car engine, according to law enforcement.
Photo via Facebook/Robert Stridiron, RHS News
One killed in pileup
on Van Wyck
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Detectives are still investigating
the cause of a six-car pileup on the
Van Wyck Expressway near Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park on Saturday
morning that left one man dead and
four others injured.
Police said the chain reaction crash
occurred at about 4:15 a.m. on Aug.
18 along the northbound lanes of the
expressway near the Jewel Avenue
exit.
Th at’s where a Chevrolet Cruze
SUV heading northbound on the
rain-slicked highway collided with a
Toyota Venza, which subsequently
struck a BMW vehicle. Law enforcement
sources said the Cruze then
struck an Acura TL sedan, operated
by a woman with a male passenger
on board.
Apparently moving at a high rate
of speed, authorities said, the Acura
TL veered to the center of the roadway
and slammed into a median, then
fl ipped over the divider and landed on
the Van Wyck Expressway’s southbound
lanes.
Cops said the Acura was then struck
by a white Ford pickup truck, belonging
to the Transportation Security
Administration, and a gray Jeep
Cherokee, both of which were traveling
southbound on the Van Wyck.
Offi cers from the 107th Precinct,
the NYPD Highway Patrol and EMS
units responded to the pileup. Th e
Van Wyck Expressway was closed in
both directions for several hours aft er
the wreck.
Paramedics removed both occupants
of the Acura: the female driver,
who was hospitalized in stable condition,
and a passenger, 38-year-old
Jairo Castano of Pennsylvania Avenue
in Brooklyn, who was pronounced
dead at the scene.
Th ree other individuals involved in
the crash were taken to local hospitals
for treatment of their injuries.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Flushing residents have one less place
to buy their groceries, as the neighborhood’s
Western Beef supermarket recently
closed down.
Visitors to the store located at 44-44
College Point Blvd. last week found
closed signs in the window and the doors
locked, according to posts on the Bayside,
Queens Facebook page.
QNS contacted Western Beef on Aug.
20, and a company representative confi
rmed that the store had closed. A
spokesperson further explained that the
store, one of the oldest buildings in the
chain, had become too diffi cult to maintain
and energy ineffi cient.
Th e supermarket closed within the last
week, and all of its employees were transferred
to other Western Beef locations
either in Queens or closer to their own
residences, the spokesperson said.
An examination of property records
found that the deed had been transferred
in January from Western Beef Properties
Inc. to a holding company, Cactus 44-44
Point LLC.
Both Western Beef Properties Inc. and
the holding company have the same
address, 47-05 Metropolitan Ave. in
Ridgewood, which is also a Western Beef
supermarket. No money was exchanged
in the transaction, according to city
Department of Finance records.
According to the Western Beef spokesperson,
the company is now taking time
to evaluate the College Point Boulevard
property and consider what could be
done with the property. Th e company
would like to sell or lease the site for retail
purposes, but the spokesperson ruled out
reopening the Western Beef there.
Currently, there’s no indication on the
city’s Department of Buildings website
that any development work is planned for
the Flushing Western Beef location. Th e
website notes that the ownership remains
on the hook for civil penalties resulting
from a “violation for failure to certify correction
of a Class 1 violation.”
In addition to the Ridgewood store,
Western Beef currently has one other
Queens location in operation, at 130-35
Merrick Blvd. in Springfi eld Gardens.
According to the Western Beef website,
the supermarket is also expanding soon
to a location on 168th Street in Jamaica
that’s targeted for an opening in March
2020.
Previously, Western Beef shuttered its
Long Island City location to make way for
two new hotels.
Photo via twitter.com/NYPD114Pct
NYPD offi cers and FDNY fi refi ghters collaborated over the weekend to save a trapped kitten.
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