Queens is burning by the open streets

 

Photo by Shebbie

 Eyewitness News

Several people, including a mom and her baby, were rescued by firefighters after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Queens Friday.

FDNY officials say the fire broke out just after 7 p.m. on the second floor of a four-story apartment building located at 34-09 83rd Street in Jackson Heights.

They say the fire originated in the kitchen area. When firefighters arrived, they encountered the fire coming from an open door leading to the public hallway.

As first responders began searching the building, they found several people trying to escape from the flames.

One of the tenants was located on the fire escape, while another tenant, a woman with a baby, was located on the roof of the building.

Firefighters rescued those tenants and brought them to EMS.

Officials say three civilians suffered minor injuries. It's not clear if those are the same three people rescued by first responders.

No firefighters were injured.

The fire was placed under control just after 8 p.m.

FDNY Deputy Chief Joseph Jardin said an e-bike or lithium-ion battery scooter was discovered near the kitchen, but it's not clear if that was what sparked the fire.

 

Senior citizen dies after an ebike rider hits him

 

Queens Post 

 A 75-year-old Elmhurst man died on Saturday, 10 days after he was struck by an e-bike rider while walking in the vicinity of Roosevelt Avenue and Broadway in Jackson Heights.

Kabrinda Nath Sen succumbed to his injuries at Elmhurst Hospital, a block away from his home on Ithaca Street, according to the NYPD.

Sen was struck in broad daylight in front of the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street subway station at around 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 27, authorities said. 

Police from the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian stuck at the intersection and found the senior with injuries to his head. EMS rushed him to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition. He died on Jan. 6, police said.

Further investigation by the NYPD’s Highway District Collision Investigation Squad determined that Sen was crossing Roosevelt Avenue at Broadway when a cyclist riding an e-bike westbound on Roosevelt Avenue plowed into him. Sen’s head stuck the pavement, ultimately killing him. 

The cyclist remained at the scene and was not arrested, police said Wednesday.

 

Octogenarian ebike rider killed by hit and run truck driver

QNS 

New details have emerged from the investigation into the fatal hit-and-run on Northern Boulevard that killed an electric scooter rider in Flushing on Thursday morning.

The NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad has determined that the victim was an 82-year-old man who was traveling eastbound on Northern Boulevard in the left turn lane.

The senior proceeded to turn left onto the westbound lanes of Northern Boulevard at Parsons Boulevard when he was struck by the driver of a red 2015 International tractor-trailer that was traveling eastbound on Northern Boulevard. The truck driver drove away from the scene of the collision westbound on Northern Boulevard, according to investigators

 EMS responded to the location and pronounced the 82-year-old man dead at the scene. The identity of the deceased is pending proper family notification, police said.

 No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing by the NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad. 

 This is actually a regular folding bike but with a lithium-ion battery cartridge. And it's actually bigger than the bike itself. 

Ebike fire destroys building, kills elderly woman and leaves other tenants homeless

  

NY1 

 

Thomas Rodriguez, a resident of Ozone Park, says he’s lucky his wife, 67-year-old Marie Rodriguez, and their dog Penny are alive after a fire tore through their apartment building Friday afternoon. 

“She was ready to jump. Don’t worry, the fire department is here and they’re going to bring up a ladder. They were able to get here. She was more concerned that she couldn’t get the dog out because of the smoke,” Thomas Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez was at work while the FDNY rescued his wife and their dog from the flames. She was taken to Jamaica Hospital for smoke inhalation, but has since been released. The couple lives at the back of a building on 98th Street in Ozone Park.

He says the owner of the building and his 93-year-old mother, Kam Mei Koo, live in the adjacent apartment. Koo did not survive her injuries and died as a result of the blaze, according to police.

“She was a very nice lady. She was to herself. She was 93-years-old. She could barely make it up the steps,” Rodriguez said.

The FDNY got a call at around 1:30 p.m. and says an e-bike was discovered at the scene. On Saturday, fire marshals determined that a lithium-ion caused the fire, which the department says was accidental.

Rodriguez says the owner charged the bike near the entrance of the building by a staircase leading to the two apartments in the building.

“I left this morning for work and noticed the bike was plugged in and I said, ‘Maybe I should unplug it.’ It’s been like that a few times and no problems, nothing,” Rodriguez said. “And you know what I told myself, ‘Maybe I should call my wife and tell her to unplug it’ but I got busy at work.”

Lunatic kills one man and wounds 3 other people during broad daylight mass shooting spree while riding a ghost e-bike

AMNY 

Detectives in Queens have a suspect in custody in connection with a shooting spree in Queens and Brooklyn on Saturday morning that left one man dead and three others injured.

Law enforcement sources said a scooter-riding suspect shot the three victims in Richmond Hill, Queens, between 11:25 and 11:40 a.m. on July 8. He was also linked to a fourth shooting in nearby Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, that preceded the Queens portion of the rampage.

The motive for the shootings, four of which occurred in the 102nd Precinct‘s confines, remain unknown at this time, police sources said. 

“It seems that these acts were random,” Assistant Chief Joe Kenny of the NYPD Detectives Bureau said. “The video shows he’s not targeting anybody, he’s not following anybody. As he’s driving on the scooter, he’s randomly shooting at people.”

Acting Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the suspect, a 25-year-old man with one prior arrest on his rap sheet, was apprehended at about 1 p.m. in nearby Jamaica, Queens, at the corner of Sutphin Boulevard and 94th Avenue.

The suspect had been picked up by officers assigned to the 103rd Precinct, who recognized the man from security video obtained quickly from the shooting scenes and transmitted to every police officer in the city through a “critical message,” Caban noted.

The commissioner said that the shooter rode an illegal scooter, and the weapon allegedly used in the spree, a 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine, was found stored within the illegal ride.

At each shooting scene, police officials noted, the NYPD recovered 9 mm shell casings, as well as video footage and/or witness descriptions of the same scooter-riding suspect. 

Sure looks like this bastard was looking to kill a lot more people while rolling on pedestrian heavy Jamaica Avenue. Anybody want to say defund the police now?

Queens is burning again: Ebike battery explosion torches a house with illegal daycare center

NY Daily News  

The Queens daycare where 18 children were injured after a fire broke out due to a faulty lithium-ion battery was unlicensed and illegally running out of a basement, the Daily News has learned.

The fire started in the basement of the two-story home on 72nd Drive near 147th St. in Kew Gardens Hills around 2:05 p.m., FDNY officials said.

Both the daycare and a dentist lab were operating in the basement, which had been converted without a Department of Buildings work permit, the DOB said.

The blaze spread through the cellar of the single-family home when a charging e-bike exploded, sources said.

When firefighters arrived, five adults, one teenager and 19 children ranging from 16 months to 5-years-old were inside, the sources added.

A 16-month-old toddler was critically injured in the fire. The other kids did not require treatment, FDNY officials and sources said.

The injured buy suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit Thursday, sources said.

The childcare center is unlicensed, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services told The News.

“The agency is conducting a thorough review to determine if it was, in fact, operating illegally,” an OCFS spokesperson said in a statement.

A childcare license is required by the state if a person or program is caring for more than two children who are not related to them, away from the child’s home and on a regular basis for three or more hours per day.

Officials are still investigating whether the 18 children in the house were related to the home owner operating the daycare.

The DOB issued the owner two violations for illegal construction work to the basement and for operating businesses out of the space. City records had listed the basement as a storage area, the agency said.

 

Deadly fire caused by e-bike battery charger

Illegal conversion of a basement garage + Charging an e-bike battery = death trap. And it was the family's first day living in the house.