Borough-Wide Blotter
COMPILED BY LIZ GOFF
104th Precinct

Ambulette Rider Killed

An 80-year-old man was killed last week when the ambulette he was riding in went out of control and ran into a tree and a light pole in Middle Village, police said.

Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid a car on Juniper Boulevard North. The ambulette careened into the tree and struck the light pole, gravely injuring the man who was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center where he died a short while later.

Two other elderly patients in the ambulette suffered minor injuries in the crash, police said. The ambulette driver was not charged in the incident.

Driver Charged In DWI Death

Police charged a 25-year-old Queens man with DWI and vehicular homicide last week in the death of a 60-year-old Woodhaven man.

Christopher Rivera, 25, was driving south on Woodhaven Boulevard near 101st Avenue at about 11 p.m. on November 10 when his 1995 Honda went over the center median and ran into a 1999 Maxima. The force of the impact propelled the Maxima into a BMW Suburban carrying a driver and two passengers, police said.

The driver of the Maxima, Carmelo Raspanti, died at the scene. A 60-year-old female passenger in the Maxima suffered back and neck injuries, according to authorities.

Rivera, who suffered minor cuts and abrasions, was arrested and charged at the scene.

105th Precinct

Queens Task Force Rookie Cuffed

A rookie Queens cop was arrested on charges he threatened his girlfriend during a November 10 telephone call.

Police said Thameshwar Sharma, 24, was suspended from his assignment at the Queens South Task Force pending the results of the charges. Sharma, of Queens Village, joined the NYPD in July 2006. The perpetrator was arrested at his home at about 11:30 p.m., about one hour after his girlfriend called authorities to report the alleged threat.

108th Precinct

Graffiti Vandal Tagged

Police arrested a 27-year-old graffiti vandal on November 15 after they spotted him scrawling his "tag" on four Woodside locations.

Police said Omar Herrera was nabbed at about 1 a.m. on November 15, while he was scribbling the letters "CMS" with black spray paint behind a building on Roosevelt Avenue near 63rd Street.

According to sources Herrera is suspected of vandalizing three other locations in the same neighborhood with the same tag, which he also has tattooed on his back.

Herrera was charged with four counts of criminal mischief, three counts of making graffiti and one count of possession of a graffiti instrument.

112th Precinct

Propane Truck Blast Rocks 'Hood

Authorities said an explosion that shook a Forest Hills neighborhood on November 8 was likely the result of human error, when workers loading a propane-laden grill onto a truck, leaving a burner turned on.

Police said the blast occurred at about 8:20 a.m. at a loading dock behind a row of shops along 108th Street near 64th Road.

Inspectors at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said a spark of unknown origin, possibly from the truck's ignition, set off the explosion that destroyed the rear of the truck. It shattered windows and caused structural damage to nearby properties and sent chunks of gnarled aluminum onto the street outside the alley.

No one was injured and no charges were filed in the incident, authorities said.