Neighborhood News
BY LIZ GOFF Bayside

FDNY Instructors Are Heroes

Instructors at the New York City Fire Department's Fort Totten Training Facility are being hailed as heroes after they saved the life of a recruit who went into cardiac arrest during routine exercises.

The 37-year-old paramedic recruit was involved in routine training with other recruits when he "just fell to the ground" at about noon on Friday, January 19, FDNY officials said.

"All of a sudden he dropped," said EMS Lieutenant Arthur Lester. "We checked his pulse and breathing and realized he was in cardiac arrest."

Fire officials said Lester and several other instructors grabbed a defibrillator and applied several shocks to the recruit's chest.

"They checked him again for a pulse, and began CPR on the recruit," the officials said. "It took about a minute for him to begin breathing on his own."

The recruit was taken to Long Island Jewish Medical Center, where he is listed in stable condition.

PBA Chief Nabs Burglar

A career criminal with a history of 50 arrests made the worst choice of his life on January 16 when he knocked on the door of Patrick Lynch's Bayside home to pull a scam.

Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA), said he was headed to the police union's Manhattan headquarters at about 8 a.m. when his cellphone rang.

Lynch said the call was from his wife, who said there was a man at the door of their house delivering a sob story and begging for cash.

Police said the man was Anthony Genovese, 40, who told Lynch's wife he had just lost his car keys in a sewer, his wife was pregnant and they needed cash to pay their rent.

After hearing Genovese's story, Lynch's wife shut and locked the door, and called her husband, police said.

Lynch said he immediately turned his car around and headed home. When he got there, he spotted a strange man getting into a Volvo with a woman waiting inside, Lynch said. He called his wife to make sure her description of the man at the door matched that of the man in the car. Lynch said he then called police at the 111th Precinct for backup, and held the man until the cops arrived.

Genovese was charged with grand larceny auto, driving with a suspended license and possession of burglary tools.

Investigators said Genovese has a long history of arrests, most for burglaries and drug charges. Police are currently investigating to determine if Genovese was behind a recent rash of burglaries in the Bayside area.

Police sources said Genovese initially told investigators he knew the man who lives in the house. "He said he knew the man had left for work, and he just wanted to ask the wife for some money," the sources said. "He said he needed the money for his pregnant wife."

This was the second bust Lynch made since he was elected president of the city police union seven years ago. A few years back, he busted a car thief who was running from cops at the Queens Midtown Tunnel, an NYPD spokesperson said. Flushing

Flushing Students Get First Aid

City Councilmember John Liu last week brought some lifesaving techniques to his young constituents at P.S. 22 in Flushing.

Liu, a graduate of P.S. 22, arranged for a team of Red Cross instructors to visit with fourth- and fifth-graders at the school to offer them some basic lifesaving tips.

Red Cross workers Lindsay Linebarger and Mary Gonzales opened their visit with a short lecture, then showed the students how to determine if a person is conscious, how to perform the Heimlich maneuver, how to dial 911 for help- and how to stay calm while giving police operators information they need to send help.

Students were invited on stage during the discussions to participate in mock incidents that required first aid for at least one injured person. Linebarger and Gonzales walked the students through basic steps they might use to help comfort and stabilize an injured person while waiting for emergency personnel to arrive.

"A lot of kids hear medical terms on TV shows and mimic them, but few know what they mean and how techniques can be applied in life- threatening situations," Linebarger said.

"These discussions give us an opportunity to meet one-on-one with youngsters, to impress the importance of the 911 call and to show them some simple ways to help injured people."

A spokesperson for Liu said the councilmember arranged for the Red Cross visit because he believes, "Everyone should be prepared to react to emergencies in a post-9/11 world, even children." Long Island City

'Construction Worker' Kidnapped

Long Island City artist Sergio Furnari is spending much of his time these days waiting for the phone to ring, hoping the thief who stole a piece of his artwork will have a change of heart and return it to him.

Missing is a 100-pound figure of a man sitting on a steel beam, eating lunch with his buddies, Furnari said. The concrete and fiberglass figure is part of Furnari's sculpture, "Lunchtime on Top of the Skyscraper", worth between $5,000 and $10,000, he said.

Furnari said he last saw the complete sculpture on the night of January 14, mounted on top of a truck outside his Long Island City studio.

Furnari discovered the man was missing at about 5 p.m. on January 16. He immediately notified police.

The artwork has great sentimental value. "It's like someone stole a piece of my heart," Furnari said.

Furnari said it took him several years to complete the sculpture of 11 life-size construction workers sitting on a beam eating lunch. The sculpture is based on a 1932 photograph of men who worked on the construction of Rockefeller Center. Furnari said it was his original intention to cast the statue in bronze, but he opted instead for metal, fiberglass and concrete.

The missing "man" was sitting on the far right side of the piece, holding a bottle, Furnari said.

Furnari said he has spent the last five years driving the statue all over the city and around the country. "It belongs to the American people," he said. "Workers at Ground Zero were drawn to it. It inspired them and lifted their spirits."

Furnari said he believes police at the 108th Precinct will do their best to track down the thief and bring the "kidnapped" man back home. He said he will offer several pieces of his artwork to anyone who has information on the missing sculpture.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.