Burnt Body Found In Forest Park

Medical Examiner personnel remove an unidentified man found burnt on top of a pile of burning garbage in Forest Park in Woodhaven early Saturday morning. (Photos: Josephine Wendell)

Queens

Firefighters responding to a park fire in Queens Saturday discovered a dead body, according to WABC News.

They arrived on the scene following a 911 call of a rubbish fire along the southern tier of Forest Park.

The firefighters discovered that the burning trash was actually a man's body that had been set on fire.

The body was found just north of Park Lane South and 86th Street in the Woodhaven section of Queens.

EMS responded and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

There is still no word on the man's identity or the cause of death. An autopsy will be performed on Sunday.

Investigators spent the day searching the woods for clues.

Sources tell Eyewitness News an accelerant may have been used to set the fire.

(Photo: Robert Stridiron/Forum Newsgroup)

Read More:

Police investigating burning body found in Queens

WABC - May 12, 2012 - Darla Miles

Firefighters’ grisly find: burned body

New York Post - May 13, 2012 - By Kirstan Conley

Burned body found in Woodhaven's Forest Park — NYPD

Queens Chronicle - May 14, 2012 - By Anna Gustafson

BODY FOUND UNDER BURNING GARBAGE IN FOREST PARK

The Forum - May 17, 2012 - By Jeremiah Dobruck

Burnt Body Removed From Forest Park (Video)

Rec Center Security Returning After Deadly Shooting

"For a shooting to take place in a rec center is crazy. There's no security there to protect people going to enjoy themselves."

The center's manager – a man named José – said a security guard would be coming back. "We had one but not anymore."

After Monday's deadly shooting at the West Bronx Recreation Center, security will be returning according to the New York Daily News. (Photos: Harbus for NY Daily News)

Bronx

The recreation center on Jesup Ave. was supposed to be a refuge, a place of calm in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood near the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Residents of Mount Eden could run around the track or play hoops at the Highbridge Community Life Center. But that all changed Monday when someone shot Derick Cochran, 37, dead on the center's basketball court as he played in a pickup game.

Residents now mourn the loss of something intangible and worthwhile: a place where mostly children come to spend time after school.

"It's wrong . . . I mean, we live in the 'hood, no doubt about that," said Daury Betances, a 26-year-old father of two whose daughter, Nicole, often plays at the center. "But problems can be handled differently and certainly in a different place from where they handled their trouble on Monday."

Thursday, the center's hoops court remained closed.

Crystal (r.) cries after hearing that her boyfriend, Derrick Cochran was shot on the basketball court of the West Bronx Recreation on Monday.

Betances recalled the wild scene that erupted around 3 p.m. Monday. "I was sitting on my stoop and there was a group of 10 or 12 kids. I figured they were coming from school to play basketball."

"Three minutes after they went inside, everyone started to run out. I thought they closed the gym, but then I saw the worry on people's faces.

"Some guy bleeding from the face came out, stumbled on the steps, got up and then fell again in the middle of the street. He eventually got up and ran away with those young kids."

"I can't believe that happened," said Jocasta Hernandez-Santana, 44, who lives across from the center and runs on the track. "The guy is dead? You would think he would be safe in a recreation center."

The crime's brazenness shocked even residents who claim to have seen everything.

"It's messed up," added Clemetin Allen, 46, who frequents the center.

"For a shooting to take place in a rec center is crazy. There's no security there to protect people going to enjoy themselves."

The center's manager – a man named José – said a security guard would be coming back. "We had one but not anymore."

The city's Parks Department, which farmed out responsibility for the center to the Highbridge organization, would not comment on the shooting. Highbridge did not return calls.

"It's terrible. Where are our kids safe at?" asked Deirdre Meyers, 38, a mother of two.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

Read More:

Shooting at basketball game in Highbridge recreation center has Bronx neighborhood residents on edge

New York Daily News - April 8, 2011 - By Mike Jaccarino

Man Shot Dead In West Bronx Recreation Center - No Security

A Walk In The Park - April 5, 2011

Central Park Tree Branch Kills Girl, Injures Mother

Investigators at the scene of the tragedy in Central Park this afternoon where a 6-month-old girl, Gianna Riccuitti of Union City, N.J. was killed, and her mother injured after a tree branch fell.  The victims were rushed to Cornell Hospital where the baby girl was pronounced dead on arrival according to published reports. The accident occurred at approximately 1:30 p.m. on the promenade just outside the Central Park Zoo's sea lion exhibit behind the Parks Department headquarters.  A nurse visiting from Germany and another bystander performed CPR on the baby. 

This the second fatality caused by a fallen tree branch this year at Central Park. On February 25, A 46-year-old father from Brooklyn died when a branch fell and hit him. On July 29 2009, a 33-year-old Google engineer was knocked unconscious sustained brain and spinal injuries after being hit on the head by a rotted tree branch in the park. (Photos: CATHERINE NANCE/NY POST)

 

Manhattan 

A baby girl was killed and her mother critically injured when a tree branch fell and struck them just outside the Central Park Zoo on Saturday, the police said.

The accident occurred about 1:45 p.m. on the promenade in front of the sea lion exhibit.

The mother, 33, was holding the 6-month-old girl and posing for a photograph taken by her husband when a large branch about 30 feet above them snapped, the police said. The branch struck the woman, and she fell to the ground, her baby in her arms.

The police identified the girl as Gianna Riccuitti of Union City, N.J. They did not release the names of her parents.

Gianna and her mother were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital. Medics responded at 1:50 p.m., and the woman and baby arrived at the hospital at 2:03 p.m., a Fire Department spokesman said. The baby was pronounced dead, and her mother was reported in critical condition.

Snapped Tree Branch

A security guard at the zoo said he heard a loud crack, like a thunderclap, and saw the branch plummet. After the mother fell, members of her family shrieked, the guard said, and her husband began screaming and jumping around. “He was going crazy,” the guard said.

The area was sealed off with police tape, but the zoo remained open. By midafternoon, it was business as usual at the park, with children watching park workers feed fish to the sea lions, steps from the fallen branch.

It was the third time in less than a year that someone had been harmed or killed by a falling tree branch in Central Park.

The 33-year old mother of Gianna Riccuitti being rushed to the hospital.  She was struck by a falling tree branch while holding her baby. (AP Photo/WPIX-TV)

Read More:

Falling Branch Kills Baby at the Central Park Zoo

New York Times - June 26, 2010 -  By Cara Buckley

Falling Central Park tree branch kills kid, hurts mom

New York Post - June 26, 2010 By Kelly Magee 

Falling Tree Limb Kills Infant,  Injures Mother

WPIX - June 26,  2010 -  By JEREMY TANNER

Central Park Tree Branch Falls,  Kills Baby

NY1 - June 26, 2010

Baby Dies When Branch Falls At Central Park Zoo

WCBS News - June 26, 2010 - Dave Carlin & Cindy Hsu

Three Men Arrested in Rockaway Beach Over Stabbed Body

NYC Park Crime Blotter 

(Queens- March 17, 2010) A 25 year-old Hispanic male was stabbed while on the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach - (Beach 12th Street) this morning at approx.12:30 a.m. The man was pronounced DOA by EMS on the scene.  NYPD arrested 3 suspects.  - Geoffrey Croft

The police approached three men on the beach in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Wednesday just after midnight and found the body of a 25-year-old man who had been stabbed to death,

according to the New York Times. 

The three men were arrested. Officers had stopped near the Boardwalk and Beach 12th Street to check on an occupied car illegally parked near the beach, a law enforcement official said. It was not immediately clear if the car was connected to the killing, or if the body was on the beach itself or nearby. Charges are pending.

Midnight Gathering on the Beach, and a Killing

New York Times City Room - March 17, 2010 -By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT