Tales of Heroism
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Policemen, Firefighters and Ambulance Corp personnel were honored for outstanding service at the Public Safety Awards ceremony at the Crossway Firehouse on Friday morning October 12th. The stories that prompted these heroic acts were made public at the ceremony - some for the first time:
Participating in the ceremonies were Mayor Miriam Levitt Flisser, Police Chief John Brogan, Deacon Ted Gaskin, Village Manager Al Gatta, SVAC President David Raizen, Fire Chief Thomas Cain, Police Commissioner Jon Mark and Fire Commissioner Kay Eisenman. The national anthem was sung by SHS student Sophie Laruelle.
As there are so many wonderful stories, we will cover the police awards this week and follow with the Fire Department and Volunteer Ambulance Corps Awards in subsequent weeks. Here, in abbreviated format are the Police awards with descriptions of the incidents and the names of those who were recognized for saving the day:
SVAC’s David Raizen got a desperate call from a despondent woman who was threatening to harm herself on January 21, 2011. While reassuring her on the phone he was able to capture her phone number and relay it to Sergeant Peter Kelly who tracked it to an address in Mamaroneck. Raizen engaged her on the phone until emergency personnel could reach her. Raizen and Sergeant Peter Kelly were cited for their calm demeanor, quick thinking and compassion. Raizen was given the Civilian Public Service Award and Kelly, Command Recognition.
On the morning of March 17, 2011 a pregnant Taunton Road woman went into labor and feared that the baby would be born before she could reach the hospital.
Police Officers Johnson and LoGiudice along with SVAC crew members, Bianna Kun, Shari Feig, Lisa Kulak and Jay Reide were able to move the woman into the ambulance and deliver the baby en route to the hospital. Both mother and child arrived in good shape due to the expertise of the emergency team. For their efforts, Officers Johnson and LoGiudice were given Administrative Recognition and
Jay Reidel, Lisa Kulak, Shari Feig and Bianna Kun were given Civilian Public Service Awards and recognized by the Village Board.
A Walworth Avenue woman called police on the morning of May 7, 2011 to say that a man had entered her home. The resident confronted the intruder and he fled. Sergeant Siciliano and Officer Paul Zavadil searched the area, found the suspect and arrested him for criminal trespass. They were given Honorable Service Medals for rapid response, diligent follow up and dedication to duty.
In response to a report of an assault on a Bee Line Bus on the morning of June 13, 2011, Police Officer Armando Nava went to the corner of Post and Huntington Roads where the bus was stopped. He got a description of the suspect who had the fled the scene and broadcast it to all untis. Robert Lua of the Scarsdale Highway Department had seen the man flee and discard his T-shirt so that he would not be recognized. A new description was broadcast and Sergeant John Spagna and Police Officer David Rosa stopped the man on Fisher Avenue in White Plains. The suspect admitted that he was responsible and was arrested. For their work Spagna, Nava and Rosa were given Administrative Recognition and Lua received a Civilian Public Service Award and recognition from the Village Board.
After a serious hit and run accident on the Hutchinson River Parkway near Weaver Street on the morning of July 13, 2011 Westchester County Police put out a request for assistance to locate a man and woman who had fled the parkway on foot. Sergeant John Spagn and Police Office Boris Grgas found the woman and arrested her on Meadow Road in Scarsdale. The second suspect continued to flee and police pursued him with help from Harrison, Mamaroneck and New Rochelle Police. Ultimately Police Officer Armando Nava and Office Steven Delbene caught the man on Winged Foot Golf Course. All four officers were given honorable service medals for their rapid response, diligent follow up and dedication.
Detective Servando Rodriguez was given an Honorable Service Medal for his work in tracking down suspects and investigating what happened during a fight at 2:55 am on August 19, 2011. During the fight four young men were injured by a gang of seven men who met them at the Scarsdale Train Station. Wielding baseball bats, broomsticks and a tire iron they assaulted the victims and then fled. Armando interviewed victims and witnesses and obtained a surveillance video that helped him to identify all seven assailants. On September 21, 2011 all the suspects were arrested and charged.
Police Officer Arefieg was also given an Honorable Service Medal for work that lead to the arrest of a jewelry thief who stole two diamond rings from Sam Lehr Jewelry on Harwood Court. At 1:20 pm on October 22, 2011 Arefieg saw a man run down Scarsdale Avenue and jump into a parked car. The man took off his hat and threw it onto the passenger seat and sped away. Due to the man’s unusual behavior, Arfieg noted the license plate number of the car. Shortly after, the jeweler reported the ring theft and the description of the suspect matched the man Arfieg had seen. Police were able to track the license plate number and subsequently identified, arrested and charged the man with several jewelry thefts. Arefieg was cited for his dedication to duty, diligent follow up and professionalism.
The freak snowstorm on October 29, 2011 caused downed trees and wires, power outages and “widespread” destruction in Scarsdale. The Police were flooded with hundreds of calls in a very short period of time. To make matters worse, the Police and Fire Departments were still in the process of moving back into the newly renovated Public Safety Building after two and a half years in remote facilities. In the midst of the storm and the chaos, a woman travelling in a car on Post Road went into labor. Police and ambulance personnel, with the assistance of the Scarsdale Highway Department cleared the road in front of the woman’s car to allow her to be rushed to the hospital where the baby was safely delivered.
During the storm, Officers maintained a calm demeanor, properly prioritized their responses and conducted themselves in a professional manner. The following were awarded Command Recognition for their work during the storm:
- Captain Andrew Matturro
- Sergeant Joseph Dusavage
- Sergeant Peter Kelly
- Sergeant Boris Grgas
- Police Officer John Boggi
- Police Officer Ronnie Arefieg
- Police Officer David Rosa
- Police officer Steven Delbene
- Police Officer Robaire Johnson
- Police Officer Jessica Knatz
- Police Officer Craig Carroll
- Police Officer Eric LoGiudice
- Police Officer Anthony Gaudio
Congratulations to all! Look for more awards on Scarsdale10583 next week.
Photos by Sarah Schuman
Bus Accident Tests Scarsdale EMS Team's Skills
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A car driven by a texting teen crashes into a school bus filled with high school students returning from a game. Though it’s only 7:15 pm, it’s already dark – and cold -- and after the screech of brakes and the loud thud of the impact of the crash there is silence. In the back of the bus, jarred and disoriented, one of the teens reaches for his cell phone to call 911. Though he hears moans and cries from the others he does a quick self-assessment and decides he is okay. He looks out the window to try and see where they are – but the emergency operator can already trace his call back to his phone and tells him to hang on – help is on the way.
Minutes later a police car arrives. The officer jumps out and peers into the car that hit the door of the bus and is blocking the bus door. In the car he sees a young man draped over the steering wheel unmoving – and a passenger in the front covered in blood and glass. It appears that the young man’s head hit the windshield.
The officer quickly sends out a second emergency call for more help. Then an ambulance arrives – staffed by volunteers from Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the team quickly gets to work.
Fortunately there was no bus accident this week; the scenario was simulated as a large-scale training exercise on Wednesday night October 10th at the sanitation lot on Secor Road in Scarsdale. The simulation, which involved over 70 people, was the brainchild of SVAC’s President David Raizen as an educational drill for volunteers and professional emergency workers.
Raizen kept plans for the night under wraps so that volunteers could put their skills to the test in a real-life situation without preparation. Raizen even asked the professional paramedics who usually run emergencies to step aside and let the volunteers take the lead.
The event involved much planning. Students from the Fire Explorer’s Clubs of Scarsdale, Harrison and West Harrison were called in to pose as injured bus riders and arrived early to prepare. The 32 injured students were painted in blood and each assigned an injury demanding a specific treatments. The accident was set up in the lot and the young men in the car were immobile and bloodied.
But this wasn’t just kids stuff. Also on hand were EMS providers, 25 career and volunteer firefighters, four police officers, the Transportation Director of the Scarsdale Schools and a member of the Board of Education. Ambulance teams from Eastchester and Harrison also participated and personnel followed the protocols they use in actual accidents.
Teams went to work to extricate the injured from the car and the bus, mounting the victims on plastic backboards and lifting them one at a time into ambulances. The bus was crowded and cramped and maneuvering was difficult. It took over an hour to clear all the injured from the bus. There were cries of “help”, and “get a pulse” as EMT’s evaluated each student and stabilized them for the trip to the hospital. Since this was a drill, not an actual emergency, Raizen cautioned the participants not to rush as he did not want them to trip or get injured.
Traffic in the lot became a problem as fire trucks, ambulances and police cars sped to the scene. One could quickly see that in an actual emergency maintaining access between the accident and the road would be critical.
Raizen also assigned SVAC staffers to be observers and note what steps were missed and what could be done better in the future. For instance, the EMS workers failed to open the side door of the bus which would have provided a second door to extract the injured from the bus. The SVAC team will review their notes, recap their experience and use the event as a learning exercise.
For those of us who were in the lot observing, the scene appeared to be totally realistic and it was easy to forget that this was just a drill. Hopefully, an accident of this scale will never happen here – but if it does, our EMS staff will be prepared.
Photos by Sarah Schuman – who is a trained photographer and was also a trained SVAC volunteer.
Community and Trustees Consider Stormwater Retention Project at Harcourt Woods
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Changes to the Scarsdale landscape at George Field and Cooper Green are just two phases of the comprehensive stormwater management plan in store for the village. The original $3,150,000 plan called for large detention basins at George Field and Cooper Green as well as cleaning and lining the watercourse along Cambridge and the Post Roads, another detention pond at 2 Murray Hill Road, work on the high school parking lot and the rechannelization of Harcourt Woods.
However, the engineer's original vision had to be revised when the property at 2 Murray Hill could not be purchased for a pond and Westchester County regulations prevented the Village from moving fill from the excavations at George Field and Cooper Green to raise the elevation of the high school parking lot. Furthermore, though they considered using a portion of Harcourt Woods for water retention, they found that the area had unfavorable hydraulics and would not be an efficient place to store water.
Therefore, with funds already approved for the project, the engineers have revised their plans and now propose to focus on
DeGiorgio explained that Fox Meadow Brook now meanders through Harcourt woods in a hooked path that may have been diverted at an earlier time. The current stream bank encroaches on Scout Field and borders the high school tennis courts. The stream bank is eroding and there are many dead and dying trees in Harcourt Woods, which at some points obstruct the watercourse.
The plan is to restore the stream bank with a Gabion wall, which is a stone wall enclosed in mesh – that includes live plant stakes that will grow to form a vegetative front on the stream wall. The steep vertical walls of the stream would be softened and turns in the watercourse will be erased. This would facilitate the flow through the woods, prevent further erosion of the stream bank and protect tree roots along the watercourse. The stream will be bordered by “apron landscaping," a sediment trap will be installed and the bridge over the culvert in Harcourt Woods will be widened to five feet and improved.
The budget for the project is $950,000 and will be partially funded by Westchester County. If approved, the work will begin next summer.
Both the trustees and the residents had many questions about the project and it was clear that after witnessing the work at George Field and Cooper Green, there were concerns about the elimination of trees. Trustee Brodsky asked DeGiorgio to differentiate this project from George Field and Cooper Green and he explained that this was not another detention pond and that the landscape along Harcourt Road would not change.
Lena Crandall asked the trustees to bring in independent arborists to assess the health of the trees before removing them and said that she had walked the woods with three tree experts who had not seen hazardous trees on site. She also inquired about the size of the equipment that would be needed to do the work and urged the Village to use small equipment that would not destroy the existing landscape.
Dan Hochvert asked the village to use this opportunity to remove invasive Japanese knotwood that grows rapidly, falls into
Deb Pekarek questioned the project from a cost/benefit perspective and asked why they project will cost $950,000, which is as much as the detention pond on George Field. She asked if this would provide sufficient benefit to warrant the price tab.
We asked Eisenman why this is now far more than originally planned and what’s included in the bill and here is what she shared:
“The original scope of work for Harcourt involved de-silting the watercourse. The revised scope of work is much more detailed, including the Gabion wall to stabilize the banks, re-contouring the banks to obtain a gentler slope, softening the 90 degree bend to the watercourse, installing a maintenance access trail, tree removal and associated landscaping, new headwalls, constructing a sediment pond and all the associated work and infrastructure with the diversion of stormwater from the west side of Brewster Road to the sediment pond. Also we will be adding a new extended walkway in front of the high school on Brewster. The space in Harcourt Woods is tight and the work is very labor intensive which also increases the cost.”
Residents also asked for trees to be planted to replace those that will be removed and Village managers said that landscape professionals, the Village arborist, and landscapers from Westchester County would be consulted.
At the close of the meeting, the committee passed a resolution to accept the modified proposal from Dvirka and Bartilucci and to put the design before the full Board of Trustees. They also asked the engineers for a more detailed plan and invited public comment.
(Pictured at top: Map of Harcourt Woods watercourse)
CNC Announces Candidates for November 14 Election
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David Brodsky, Chair of the Procedure Committee has sent Scarsdale10583 the following announcement of the candidates for election to the Citizen's Nominating Committee and amendments to the Non-Partisan Resolution. The election will be held on November 14, 2012.
As of September 30, 2012, the Procedure Committee has a full slate of candidates running for election to the Citizen's Nominating Committe on November 14, 2012. They are:
EDGEWOOD: Warren Haber, Michael Lewis, David Rosewater, and Richard Wingate
FOX MEADOW: Norwood Beveridge, Jr., Linda Blair, Maxim Grudin, and Susan Groner
GREENACRES: Linda Flaxer, Michael Green, Kenneth Raskin, and Andrea Seiden
HEATHCOTE: Beth Ehrich Berkeley, Emily Kirschenbaum, Robert Reiffel, and Evelyn Stock
QUAKER RIDGE: David Dembitzer, Israel Kornstein, David Weiss, and Marc Yaseen
The Scarsdale Procedure Committee will post the candidates' bios in the near future.
AS OF OCTOBER 5, 2012, THE SCARASDALE PROCEDURE COMMITTEE HAS ADOPTED PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE NON-PARTISAN RESOLUTION, ALSO TO BE VOTED ON ON NOVEMBER 14. A SUMMARY OF AMENDMENTS IS BELOW; THE FULL TEXT OF EACH IS POSTED ON THE PROCEDURE COMMITTEE PAGE:
1. Summary of proposed Amendment to Article V, Section 5A (Organization Meeting): The first portion of the Organizational Meeting would be open to the public and would be televised for later viewing on cable television by tape; the business conducted during the public portion would include hearing from incumbent members of the Board of Trustees not running for reelection about the duties and responsibilities of Trustees and the Mayor and the desirable skills and talents to be looked for in potential nominees, consideration of the CNC’s rules of procedure, and description of best practices in conducting due diligence on possible nominees; it would allow the CNC to go into executive session for a portion of its business.
2. Proposed Amendment to Article IV, Section 7c: Mail-in ballots may be received on the day of the election:
3. Proposed amendment to Non-Partisan Resolution, Article V, Section 6: Present CNC ballot procedure would be codified so as to require that the election for each open office or position will be conducted separately, without reference to the name of the current occupant of an office or position.
IN 2012, VOTERS CAN CAST THEIR BALLOTS BY MAIL FOR THE FIRST TIME. A DOWNLOADABLE BALLOT AND INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO VOTE BY MAIL WILL BE AVAILABLE AT www.scarsdaleprocedurecommittee.org ; ballots will also be available at Village Hall and the Scarsdale Library.
Ladies with Knives Pose as Ladies of the Night
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Craig’s List was again at the center of a crime this week in Hartsdale – when a 49 year-old Beachwood Road man ran an ad seeking a female companion and got far more than he desired. In response to his ad, 21 year-old Arielle Pierre of Yonkers came to the man’s home at around 10 pm on Wednesday night 9-19 and received $120 in exchange for a sexual act. She took the money, said she was not feeling well and tried to leave the house before fulfilling her part of the bargain. The two then had a fight and the man demanded the money back -- but Pierre refused to return it and pulled out a knife. They continued to argue outside the house when another woman arrived, displayed a knife and threatened the man. The accomplice was later identified as Amber Favareau, age 20 of Valhalla.
A neighbor called the Greenburgh Police to say there was an argument going on in front of his house and one of the women had a knife. When police arrived, they found the man who claimed he had been robbed at knifepoint. They also located the two women nearby and they were identified by the victim.
The women were charged with one count each of Robbery 1st degree, a class B felony, and Criminal Possession of a
(Pictured at top: Arielle Pierre, age 21 of Yonkers)