FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 12, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Man critical after being
stabbed in heart
A 35-year-old man who was stabbed in the
heart in Elmhurst on Monday night — yet somehow
was able to walk fi ve blocks to a nearby hospital
— is still fi ghting for his life, police reported.
Law enforcement sources said an unidentifi
ed individual stabbed the victim in the chest
and puncturing his heart on Macnish Street near
Whitney Avenue at around 10 p.m. on Oct. 9.
Even so, according to WABC-TV, the victim
summoned the strength to walk fi ve blocks to
Elmhurst Hospital, where he underwent surgery
and is now in critical condition.
Police did not have many details about the
incident. Th ere’s no description of the perpetrator,
and the motive is unknown. No arrests have
been made.
Th e 110th Precinct Detective Squad is investigating
the case.
Robert Pozarycki
Perp sought for robbery
in Jamaica
Police are looking to question a young man
who allegedly robbed a 22-year-old victim at
gunpoint in a Jamaica subway station last month.
On Sept. 17 at around 5 a.m., the 22-year-old
male victim was inside of the Sutphin Boulevard
and Hillside Avenue subway station on the
southbound F line when he was approached by
a suspect, who displayed a silver handgun and
demanded his belongings, cops said.
Law enforcement sources said the perpetrator
then removed the victim’s cell phone and wallet,
which contained $120, and fl ed in an unknown
direction.
Th e victim was not injured in the incident,
according to authorities. Police were later able
to recover the victim’s cellphone using tracking
soft ware.
Police described the suspect as a black man in
his late teens to early 20s, standing 5 foot 7 inches
and weighing 140 pounds. He was last seen
wearing a grey t-shirt, grey sweatpants and white
sneakers.
Anyone with information can call Crime
Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS; all calls are kept confi
dential.
Suzanne Monteverdi
Far Rockaway man kills
foreman, takes own life
A Far Rockaway man who gunned down a
37-year-old construction foreman at a Manhattan
job site on Th ursday morning before killing himself
had apparently been fi red two days earlier,
according to police.Samuel Perry, 44, was
relieved of his duties on Oct. 3 at the construction
site at 645 West 59th St. in Midtown, Th e
New York Times reported. Perry then returned
to the location just before 7:10 a.m. on Oct. 5
and approached foreman Christopher Sayers,
37, of Plainview, Long Island, on the 37th fl oor
of the building.
Perry shot Sayers multiple times, then went
down to a bathroom on the fi ft h fl oor and shot
himself in the head, published reports indicated.
Offi cers from the 20th Precinct and EMS units
responded to the incident. Additional NYPD
units secured the area aft er learning of the workplace
shooting. Both Sayers and Perry were pronounced
dead at the scene.
Timothy Bolger & Robert Pozarycki
Photo via Bayside, Queens Facebook group/Jimmy Frahm
New Northern Blvd. bike lanes causing
traffi c accidents, lawmaker says
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Aft er four reported car accidents
at the site of the new Bayside and
Douglaston bike lanes, a local lawmaker
is calling on the city to do
something to make the lanes safer.
On Oct. 5, state Senator Tony
Avella penned a letter to NYC
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Commissioner Polly Trottenburg and
Mayor Bill de Blasio citing a series of
accidents at the Northern Boulevard
safety project as cause for major concern.
Cement barriers at the site create
“a dangerous merging situation” at
the busy venue, the lawmakers writes,
and no posted warning signage alerting
drivers to the new traffi c pattern
creates a hazard.
“I urge you to abandon this plan
and implement a safer bicycle lane on
Northern Boulevard as suggested and
approved by Community Board 11,”
Avella writes. “Th ere will continue to
be accidents at this location if something
is not done.”
Th e community board previously
voted in favor of the city Department
of Transportation’s (DOT) bike lane
proposal in June, but later presented
their own plan in July and offi cially
rescinded their stamp of approval
on Sept. 11. Still, the city agency
has moved forward with the plan
and construction on the lanes began
in September.
Certain Community Board 11
(CB11) members remain firmly
against the plans and in favor of a proposal
constructed by board member
Bernard Haber, which would build
the bike lanes onto an extended sidewalk.
On Oct. 2, CB11 members sent a
resolution to DOT outlining their disappointment
in the city agency and
discussed what is believed to be the
fi rst accident at the site. At approximately
7 p.m. that same night, a
car wound up on top of the newly
installed concrete barriers. Police confi
rmed that a 70-year-old driver was
operating the vehicle and reported no
injuries.
In an incident that occurred later
in the week, a car again drove directly
onto the cement dividers in the vicinity
of the Alley Pond Golf Center,
which served as the site of a Sept. 18
rally where protestors and counterprotestors
clashed. Photos of the Oct.
5 accident were posted to a Bayside
Facebook group.
In his letter to DOT and the mayor,
Avella alleges four separate accidents
at the site in recent weeks.
“Th ere have been no precautions
taken, including warning signage to
warn motorists of a change in traffi
c pattern,” the lawmakers writes.
“As an active truck route, this negligence
is putting motorists, pedestrians
and cyclists at severe risk of being
involved in an accident, the odds of
which are obviously increasing on a
daily basis.”
A DOT spokesperson questioned
whether police reports would support
the lawmaker’s conclusion that
the new bike lanes were the cause of
the accidents.
“Th is project is a direct response
to a cyclist being killed on this section
of Northern Boulevard, a Vision
Zero Priority corridor,” the spokesperson
said. “Th ese barriers did their
job to protect those in the bike lane
from accelerating turning vehicles.
When a motorist drives up on a barrier
at a confl ict point with cyclists or
pedestrians, it shows how important
our work is.”
Th e zone is still an active construction
area, the spokesperson continued.
Th e city agency is working to
install additional safety treatments,
including refl ective tape, at the site.
Most elements of the projects are
expected to be fi nished by the week
of Oct. 9.
A car drives up onto the concrete barrier along Northern Boulevard on Oct. 5.