By ADAM SCHRADER and THOMAS TRACY
Published in the New York Daily News on Nov. 18, 2017

A missing tenant who was feared dead after a massive blaze tore through the top of a Hamilton Heights building has been found, authorities said Saturday.

The fire on W. 144th St. and Broadway was finally put out just before 9 a.m. Saturday — 18 hours after it began, FDNY officials said.

Firefighters were grimly sifting through what’s left of the sixth floor to search for a tenant who was unaccounted for Saturday morning, FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard said.

But that person was later tracked to North Carolina, according to police.

Investigators collected surveillance footage from the two stores anchoring the building as the probe into the fire’s cause continued. The blaze is not believed to be suspicious, an FDNY spokesman said.

The Department of Buildings and the FDNY are expected to perform a “controlled demolition” of parts of the upper floor in the next few days. The roof collapsed into the sixth floor, most of which was completely destroyed.

The fire did not spread below the fifth floor, but there is water damage throughout the building, residents said.

“You could see water pouring into the deli below all last night,” said tenant Jake McCready, who lives on the fourth floor. “The building is not structurally safe for anybody to go in.”

McCready, 25, moved into the building a year and a half ago. He said he left his apartment about 15 minutes before the fire started.

As the fire burned throughout the night he watched updates on the television news.

“I turned on the TV and I watched my house burn,” he said. “I still don’t think it really hit me.

“It’s not about me, though I did lose everything I had,” he added. “It’s about the families who’ve lived here for years and years. There are families that have been living there for 40 years.”

One tenant, a cop and seven firefighters suffered minor injuries that ranged from smoke inhalation to bruises and muscle strains.

By ADAM SCHRADER and THOMAS TRACY
Published in the New York Daily News on Nov. 19, 2017

A Bronx detective is under fire for making out with a woman after arresting her ex-boyfriend for assaulting her, the Daily News has learned.

But Detective Nicholas Chabert doesn’t feel he did anything wrong, testifying in court last month that the makeout session “was not improper.”

“The patrol guide says you cannot have a relationship with a known felon,” Chabert said smugly after being subpoenaed to testify at Jonathan Raboy’s trial. “It doesn’t say anything about having a relationship with a victim of a crime.”

Chabert, an 11-year veteran of the NYPD, is facing departmental discipline for the lip-locking session with Yesenia Arias, an NYPD spokesman said.

“I wouldn’t call it a date,” Chabert, 45, testified about the romantic rendezvous. “I apologize on how the shadow of this casts on the arrest.”

Jonathan Raboy, the ex-boyfriend, is facing misdemeanor assault charges after Arias claimed he bent her finger on Dec. 13, 2015, causing a fracture. The couple has 4-year-old twins, a boy and a girl.

On Jan. 21, 2016, Raboy, 35, went to the 50th Precinct stationhouse and asked detectives to execute an order of protection from a Yonkers judge barring Arias from coming near him or their children. Chabert “refused to do so,” according to Raboy’s defense attorney, Howard Levine.

“He made statements that (Raboy) was taking advantage of Ms. Arias and he was trying to use her children against her,” Levine said. “He then took her upstairs and, an hour later, Jonathan was arrested.”

“A mother should be with her children,” Chabert said at the time, according to Levine.

Two days later, on Jan. 23, cops arrested Raboy again after Arias claimed he violated an order of protection barring him from being near her.

Chabert didn’t make the arrest, but admitted in court that he was present when detectives questioned her and signed off on her statement to the police.

“I think from the very get go he was manipulating the facts to try and help (Arias) in her dispute with Jonathan,” Levine said. “He arranged that Jonathan would get arrested and he arranged the facts of the second arrest so that Jonathan would get arrested a second time.

“I think the Police Department needs to look into this, investigate and ask him hard questions,” Levine said.

Raboy is fighting the criminal charges.

“How does any civilian trust the NYPD when a domestic violence detective is willing to prosecute or tailor an arrest against somebody who is innocent so he could take advantage of the so-called victim here?” Raboy asked.

During his testimony on Oct. 27, Chabert admitted to driving to Arias’ home on Feb. 2, 2016, in his private vehicle to “talk about the case.”

The two went to a bar near her home, then made out in his car and inside her apartment. Arias’ mother was home, but in another room.

By ADAM SCHRADER, ROCCO PARASCANDOLA, ROSS KEITH and RICH SCHAPIRO
Published in the New York Daily News on Dec. 2, 2017

The founder and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill who once appeared on “Undercover Boss” killed himself inside his Bronx factory Saturday, police sources said.

Lowell Hawthorne, 57, shot himself inside the Park Ave. building near E. 173rd St. in Claremont about 5:30 p.m., sources said.

More than a dozen current and former employees stood in disbelief outside the factory hours later. Some had tears rolling down their cheeks.

“He was a good boss, humble and a good businessman,” said Pete Tee, 27, a former employee. “He never seemed sad. This is just terrible news right now.”

Hawthorne opened the first Golden Krust store on E. Gun Hill Rd. in 1989.

The Jamaica-born owner went on to build the beef-patty purveyor into a national empire with more than 120 restaurants in nine states.

In May of last year, Hawthorne starred in an episode of CBS’ “Undercover Boss,” and discovered some of his chefs “aren’t on the same cookbook page,” according to the CBS website.

Pat Russo, who has worked with Hawthorne since the 1990s, was confounded by the news that his fellow businessman had taken his own life.

“It doesn’t make any sense. He had everything to live for,” said Russo, who is the president of Chef’s Choice food company. “He was a brilliant business guy. The perfect American success story.”

Hawthorne’s death sent shockwaves from the streets of the Bronx to government offices in Jamaica, where Prime Minister Andrew Holness fired off a tweet offering his condolences.

Some of Hawthorne’s employees said they suspected something was amiss when they spotted his car, a silver Tesla 85D (below), parked oddly outside the factory. The luxury ride was left in the road blocking a lane of traffic.

Longtime employee Everald Woods said he loved working under Hawthorne.

“He was a nice boss, a wonderful guy,” said Woods, an employee since 2003. “He’s the kind of guy you want to work for for that long. He takes care of his employees.”

Family friend Wayne Muschamb said Hawthorne was an inspiration to his countrymen in Jamaica. “Look how far he reached. He’s known from here to Jamaica,” Muschamb said. “I’m kind of lost for words, man. This has got me shocked.”

Hawthorne’s rags-to-riches story was set in motion in 1981 when he followed several relatives to the U.S. from Jamaica in search of opportunity.

He briefly worked as an accountant for the NYPD before deciding to build a business inspired by his father’s bakery back home.

Golden Krust became the first Caribbean-owned business in the U.S. to be granted a franchise license, according to its website. The company produces more than 50 million patties a year that are sold in retail stores.

In 2012, he published a memoir, “The Baker’s Son.”

“It’s a very humbling experience to know that the concept that began in Jamaica with our parents was able to come here,” Hawthorne told the Daily News at the time.

By ADAM SCHRADER and STEPHEN REX BROWN
Published in the New York Daily News on Dec. 4, 2017

Former Sen. Al D’Amato cried Monday recalling his wife’s mental breakdown, saying it forced him to seek custody of their kids in their subsequent divorce proceedings.

Police took Katuria D’Amato, 51, to the hospital after receiving a bizarre 911 call from her on Sept. 30. She whispered that people were shining green lasers into the home in Lido Beach, L.I., she shares with the former GOP senator.

Cops determined there were no lasers, intruders or cloaking devices in the home, as Katuria suspected, according to testimony.

Police also secured a shotgun she kept in the home — to her husband’s surprise.

“I didn’t want them to take her away. It’s a heartache. They didn’t take her in because I urged them. I said, ‘Do you have to do this?’ ” Al D’Amato told reporters outside court, beginning to cry. “They said, ‘Yes, we have to.’ ”

He said that evening wasn’t the first time Katuria had such a hallucination.

“This thing with the lasers had been going on for a while,” D’Amato, 80, said. “For years now, she’s been saying that people are shooting lasers from the dunes. There is a small road between us, the dunes and the ocean — nobody is shooting lasers.”

He said that night his wife took pictures for an hour and a half of the green beams, which were only in her imagination.

D’Amato wants to continue the current arrangement in which his kids Alfonso, 9, and Luciana, 7, live with him. His spouse wants the children to relocate and stay with her.

During testimony in Nassau County Supreme Court, Officer Jimmy Lee said his main concern that night was securing the shotgun Katuria revealed she had in a closet. “She made a beeline for that room. I cautioned her, ‘I don’t want you to handle the weapon before I can contain it,’” Lee said, recalling that Katuria’s arm was in a sling at the time.

“She said that if she could have loaded the weapon she would have used it against the invading threat . . . that upon reviewing the videotape wasn’t there.”

Katuria — who had a piece of yellow paper taped over the camera of her laptop during the court hearing — was not eager to go to a hospital that night.

“She wasn’t comfortable going to the hospital. She didn’t voluntarily go into the ambulance. She walked into it herself but didn’t want to go,” Lee testified.

The cop added that Katuria did not make any threats during the process and that the gun remained secure that evening.

D’Amato said he was stunned to learn his wife kept a shotgun in the home.

“I didn’t even know there was a gun. They told me there was a gun, but I’ve never owned a gun in my life,” D’Amato said.

After the incident, Katuria filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court, arguing it was the appropriate forum due to D’Amato’s status in Nassau County.

A judge in Manhattan disagreed and the case is mainly being resolved in Mineola.

D’Amato lost his Senate reelection bid in 1998. He went on to found the lobbying firm Park Strategies.

By ADAM SCHRADER, MOLLY CRANE-NEWMAN, ROCCO PARASCANDOLA and NICOLE HENSLEY
Published in the New York Daily News on Dec. 19, 2017

Three girls were rendered fatherless early Tuesday after a gunman fatally shot their dad in the head outside a bar in Times Square.

Persues Salichs, 32, had just left a holiday party at Tonic, a popular bar on Seventh Ave. at 48th St., as the bar was closing at about 4 a.m. He was hanging out with colleagues from a Harlem Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.

Police officials said they were still investigating what led to the shooting. But a law enforcement source told the Daily News that Salichs was arguing with a woman who was outside the bar with two men. One of the men pushed him and the other shot Salichs, police sources said.

Investigators are combing through video from Times Square — an area that likely has more surveillance cameras than any other place in the city.

One of the two men was wearing a black skull cap and black jacket. He was still being sought late Tuesday.

The victim’s family was devastated.

“This is awful,” said the victim’s aunt, Marisol Salichs, 46. “He’s a father of three. His kids are 12, 5 and 3 — three daughters. He is not one to have a problem.”

The victim was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he died at 4:12 a.m.

Salichs lived on the Upper West side with his mom and an elderly uncle.

He was carrying an ID he borrowed from a friend who lives in his building when he was shot.

“(The cops) called me thinking that I was with him,” said the friend, Edwin Lopez, 27. “Everybody was just scrambling trying to find out what actually happened to him.”

Co-workers at the wings joint where Salichs worked as a cook grieved and sang his praises.

“He was a very humble guy,” one co-worker said. “I last saw him like two days ago. We’re like family here, so it hurts. This hits close to home.

“It’s a very sad thing, especially when nobody knows what happened,” he added. “It sucks to lose someone around the holidays.”

Shocked Tonic patrons dropped their belongings, including a purse, to escape the deadly chaos. A bloodied white faux fur was still on the ground hours later.

Witnesses described a woman checking for a pulse, finding Salichs barely alive before emergency workers arrived.

“I walked out into a crime scene without even realizing,” said John Keen, 65, who works nearby. “There’s like blood smeared on the other side of that newsstand. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

A portion of Seventh Ave. was closed off to pedestrians for several hours as investigators took pictures of the crime scene.

By ADAM SCHRADER, LAURA DIMON and GRAHAM RAYMAN
Published in The New York Daily News on Dec. 25, 2017

A 70-year-old woman about to step into Christmas Eve midnight mass was fatally struck by a car outside her Long Island church, police said.

Barbara Rizzi was crossing North Ocean Ave. to enter Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Church in North Patchogue when a 2016 Nissan sedan slammed into her moments after midnight Monday.

Rizzi, who lived about a mile from the church, was rushed to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital in East Patchogue but could not be saved.

Driver Samantha Reyes, 20, remained at the scene and faced no immediate charges.

Reyes was unhurt in the crash. Her car was impounded pending the investigation.

Appearing upset, Reyes left her home with a young man and a woman and said, “Merry Christmas” to a reporter, declining to discuss the crash, Monday afternoon. She told the reporter to call her mother but the mother did not pick up the phone.

Rizzi’s daughter-in-law was too distraught to speak to a reporter as devastated relatives gathered at her home in Shoreham Christmas afternoon.

Anyone with information on the crash can call the Suffolk County Police Department’s 5th Precinct at (631) 854-8552.