FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 4, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
Marshals investigate four-alarm blaze at LIC auto shop
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
Th e FDNY is still investigating the cause
of a four-alarm blaze at a Long Island City
auto body shop on Saturday night that
sent fl ames and heavy smoke into the air.
According to the Fire Department, the
inferno ignited just before 8 p.m. on Sept.
29 inside of Champion Auto Service,
located at the corner of Borden Avenue
and 25th Street.
Hundreds of fi refi ghters from across
the area responded to the fi re, which rapidly
intensifi ed into a four-alarm incident.
No injuries were reported by the
Fire Department.
WABC-TV reported that traffi c in the
area was diverted, and that area residents
were advised to keep their windows
closed.
It took fi refi ghters a little more than
four hours to bring the blaze under control
at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, Sept.
30. Th e FDNY marshals are handling the
investigation.
Woodside man goes to jail for Forest Hills hate crime
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
A Woodside man is doing hard time
aft er admitting to shouting racial slurs
at, and then beating up a subway conductor
in Forest Hills.
Meher Kalam, 23, of 65th Street
pleaded guilty back in Sept. 17 to second
degree assault as a hate crime.
On Oct. 1, Queens Supreme Court
Justice Barry Schwartz ordered him
to serve 3 1/2 years behind bars, followed
by three years of post-release
supervision.
According to Queens District
Attorney Richard A. Brown, Kalam
attacked an MTA train conductor at
9:20 p.m. on June 18 of this year at
the 71-Continental Avenues subway
station in Forest Hills. Th e conductor
had spotted Kalam sleeping on an outof
service train, woke him up and told
him to leave.
Aft er being awoken, law enforcement
sources said, Kalam called the
conductor the N-word and threatened
to “f— you up.” Kalam then pushed
the conductor on the platform in the
direction of a slowly moving train
pulling into the station, then struck
him in the face with his forearm.
When the conductor tried to
restrain Kalam, police noted, the
attacker repeatedly punched him in
the stomach. Kalam was later apprehended
by police.
“Th is was a vicious, unprovoked
attack on an MTA worker who was
just doing his job,” Brown said in an
Oct. 2 statement. “Th is kind of violence,
especially motivated by hate
and prejudice, will not be tolerated in
Queens County. Our MTA workers
interact with the public every day and
do an outstanding job. Th ey deserve
courtesy and to be safe on the job. Th is
defendant is going to jail as a result of
his animus and this senseless act of
violence.”
Photo via Twitter/@FDNY
Homeless man
cuff ed for murder
in Jackson Hts.
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
An undomiciled man could face 25 years
to life in prison for the murder of a 25-yearold
Long Island man last week in Jackson
Heights, Queens District Attorney Richard
A. Brown announced on Tuesday.
John Daves, 32, appeared in Queens Criminal
Court on Monday night, Oct. 1, for arraignment
before Judge Jeff rey Gershuny on charges
of second-degree murder and fourth-degree
criminal possession of a weapon.
“Th e defendant used a knife to settle a fi ght
and now because of this senseless act of violence,
a 25-year-old young man is dead,”
said Brown. “Th e defendant faces a very
long term of incarceration for his alleged
actions.”
According to the criminal complaint, at
9:41 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the intersection of
80th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Daves and
the victim, Miguel Angel Becerra-Perez, 25,
were waiting at a food cart for a shish kabab.
Th e two young men then began to argue.
Prosecutors said that Daves could be seen
on video surveillance footage chasing the
victim down the block. Once the Daves
caught up with the victim, authorities said,
he grabbed Becerra-Perez, pulled him to the
ground and stabbed him with a knife which
he had grabbed from the food cart.
Becerra-Perez was stabbed in the right arm
and the chest and died as result of his injuries.
Judge Gershuny ordered the defendant to
be held without bail and to return to court on
October 30, 2018. If convicted, Daves faces
up to 25 years to life in prison.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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