Wednesday, April 9, 2014

He wasn't bored. He was self absorbed and didn't fear the consequences

Cop dies after ‘bored’ teen sets fire



One of the cops trapped in a Brooklyn apartment building fire allegedly set by a bored teen died Wednesday morning sources said.
Officer Dennis Guerra had been declared brain dead and was on life support at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, where he was transferred after doctors struggled to stabilize him at Coney Island Hospital and Jacobi Hospital.
But the father of four was pronounced dead at 6:50 a.m., the sources said.
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The damage inside 2007 Surf Ave.Photo: Dennis A. Clark
Mayor de Blasio on Wednesday praised Guerra as a selfless hero who was mortally injured while trying to help others.
“We lost a good man this morning. Officer Guerra was exemplary – he went to try to help people in need. Our hearts go out to the Guerra family – we will stand by them,” the mayor said.
And PBA president Patrick J. Lynch said he hoped other young people would learn the potentially tragic consequences of acting recklessly.
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A Housing Bureau police officer is comforted by another officer after visiting with the family of slain cop Dennis Guerra at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.Photo: Robert Kalfus
“We pray that every young person who hears of the tragic passing of hero police officer Dennis Guerra and of the suffering of officer Rosa Rodriguez and their families, learns that there deadly consequences that result from foolish actions,” Lynch said.
“We must learn from this tragedy so that their sacrifices will not have been made in vain. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Guerra and Rodriguez families, friends and their fellow officers.”
Family members had kept a vigil outside an intensive care unit in a hallway crawling with concerned cops and a police department chaplain before Guerra passed.
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Officer Guerra’s mother, center in black, and family arrive at Montefiore Medical Center Tuesday.Photo: Robert Kalfus
Guerra, 38, a married father of four, and his partner Rosa Rodriguez, 36, were the first two on the scene of a fire in a Coney Island apartment building, where they were immediately overcome by dense smoke as they stepped off a 13th-floor elevator and into a hallway where a mattress was set on fire.
Rodriguez was in critical condition at Cornell Medical Center’s burn unit in Manhattan where she was placed in a hyperbaric chamber.
After the accused arsonist, Marcell Dockery, 16, told investigators he was “bored,” according to sources, he was caught on camera with a wide grin as he was walked from a Brooklyn precinct, a gesture that outraged cops and Guerra’s heartbroken family.
“We saw him smiling on TV, is this a joke? We are going through so much right now,”Guerra’s mother Miriam said Tuesday outside her home before rushing off to the hospital as Guerra’s condition worsened.
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Police wait outside to visit the family of Police Officer Dennis Guerra at Montefiore Medical Center.Photo: Robert Kalfus
“This is a very tough time for us. Because he was bored, two officers are now fighting for their lives, and one of them is my son,” she said.
Dockery — who set up an entire Facebook page devoted to his “obsession’’ with fire — was charged with felony arson and assault and reckless endangerment.
Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton visited Guerra’s family at the hospital.
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Mayor Bill de Blasio arrives with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton (not pictured) to visit Guerra’s family at Montefiore Medical Center.Photo: Robert Kalfus
“The tragedy here is that a 16-year old young man would not have common sense enough to understand the implications of lighting a mattress, as has been alleged, on fire in his own building,” Bratton said before the hospital visit.
“How can any of us make any sense out of that?”
De Blasio saluted Guerra and Rodriguez for their bravery.
“We have such respect for what they have done for this city,” de Blasio said. “We feel for their families as they go through this terrible time, but we know that these two officers did what they did because people were in danger and they answered the call.”

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Blogger “Jerry”
Commonsense & Wonder

Friday, April 11, 2014
Via email on Friday 4/11/14 at 3:10 AM EST

It has come to my attention that the your blog and website has made unauthorized and illegal use of my exclusive, unique, copyrighted images of the NYC Police Officers outside Montefiore Medical Center, since April 9, 2014 to the present date and time. Four of my exclusive, unique and copyrighted images have been displayed on your blog without permission, since 8:43 Am on April 9, 2014:
1. A Housing Bureau police officer is comforted by another officer after visiting with the family of slain cop Dennis Guerra at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.
2. Officer Guerra’s mother, center in black, and family arrive at Montefiore Medical Center Tuesday
3. Police wait outside to visit the family of Police Officer Dennis Guerra at Montefiore Medical Center, and
4. Mayor Bill de Blasio arrives with Police Commissioner Bill Bratton (not pictured) to visit Guerra’s family at Montefiore Medical Center.
I am the photographer who made those unique images. I own the copyright of those images, and according to the US Copyright Law, all use must be authorized, and may be done solely by the copyright owner. Unauthorized use is not permitted. As the copyright holder, I am the sole person who can grant a licensing agreement. Your publication of my exclusive, unique, copyrighted images was not authorized.
I require that you provide a compete and full accounting of any and all uses your blogs and websites may have made of my image from its first use on April 9, 2014, up to and including the present date and time.
You must immediately remove my photographs from your site, provide a written assurance to me that all uses of my copyrighted images have been removed, and contact me regarding payment for use of same. If negotiation results in a mutual agreement, I can then authorize use via a written Use License, which requires payment of a Licensing Fee.
Your misappropriation of my exclusive images is brazen and arrogant. You are certainly aware that it is illegal to use another person’s copyrighted work without permission, and certainly not without compensation – as you have done on your web site, posting my exclusive, copyrighted photograph without my permission, and without compensating my work. The offending photographs are found at this link:
http://commonsensewonder.blogspot.com/2014/04/he-wasnt-bored-he-was-self-absorbed-and.html
Your action posting my photograph, without contacting me, shows your deliberate violation of copyright law.
Your actions allow anyone who can rightclick their mouse to download and further use my photographs without compensating me for my time, effort, skill, and more than four decades of full-time professional experience.
You are hereby put on notice to CEASE AND DESIST the unauthorized use of my photographs, i.e. IMMEDIATELY REMOVE MY PHOTOGRAPHS from every Internet site upon which you posted it, and provide me with full and complete disclosure of same. Your failure to do so will expose you to all available remedies, in law and equity, in both the state and federal courts. If you have any questions or comments, my attorney can contact you, which will incur your further expense.
You may provide a link to the NY Post’s site, or any other site you wish. You may choose to reference the article in the NY Post, but YOU MAY NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, use nor display my photographs without my permission, nor without compensation. You may not use it in a thumbnail, nor any other use, without licensing its use from me.
You are responsible to IMMEDIATELY remove from your web site all of the above mentioned images of the police officers, the members of the Guerra family, and NYC Mayor de Blasio, outside Montefiore Hospital, and immediately contact me regarding compensation for your unauthorized use of my images.

Robert Kalfus
Photojournalist
(917) 379-4165
Kalfoto@aol.com

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Jerry, you have done nothing more than copy the entire page with photos, all the content from the New York Post - other people's work - and displayed it on your blog. That is not blogging. That is plagiarism.