After winning a Cop of the Month award in November, Officer Kevin Desormeau was once again a recipient, this time alongside Detective Orin Cox for “unbelievable, good police work.”
Desormeau was driving eastbound on 111th Avenue with Cox in the passenger seat on Saturday, January 29 around 10:40 p.m. The pair spotted a suspicious person and knew something was up, according to Commanding Officer Captain Thomas Pascale.
They drove closer to the man and Cox dangled his shield out the window. The man then said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to be here that long, I’m leaving.”
Desormeau then starts to get out the car; meanwhile, 15 feet away from the officers, the man pulls out a revolver from his waistline and starts to shoot. After firing, the man ran and a chase ensued.
The officers reached the man near a backyard, blocks away from the original scene, with help of other police. The person violently resisted arrest and Cox recovered a revolver and an additional 81 rounds of ammunition inside a box.
“It was unbelievable, good police work, where officers knew something was not right with this person and just wanted to go talk to him,” said Thomas Pascale. “They really put themselves in danger. This person is incarcerated now and the district attorney is looking at real strong prosecution.”
Parents of nearby P.S. 226 attended the meeting to express their discontent with what was once a family-oriented homeless shelter that is now a facility for homeless, single men only, two blocks from the school.
“This was not talked about with principle and community. We have seen more robberies, panhandling and things we do not want our kids to see. We have seen them drinking on private property,” said one parent at the meeting.
The change was necessary and the community was notified, according to the Department of Homeless Services.
“Homeless Services has a mandate to provide temporary, emergency shelter to those in need. We have recently seen an increase in the number of adults applying for services and as such, the agency must make judicious use of all its capacity as demand needs change,” said the department.
The facility has 24/7 security, both inside and outside the shelter. Guards do perimeter walks at least two to three blocks on either side of the facility, so if residents are loitering they can move them on, said officials. Two vans transport clients to appointments and to the local bus stop. In addition, security cameras are present throughout the facility, both inside and out, and footage is viewed by a security guard at all times, according to the department.
On February 9, Basics Housing, Inc. (BHI) notified Community Board 10 about their proposal to manage and operate a stand-alone shelter for 176 single adults at the Skyway Motel in South Ozone Park. This is a significantly smaller number of individuals than the facility previously housed, with 92 families, averaging 276 people, also according to the department.
The precinct has not received any higher numbers of crimes, though they said they also had just found out about the change. They said they would monitor and look into the situation.
