Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the drowning death of a woman in Fort Salonga.
Fourth Precinct officers responded to a Fort Salonga home June 24 at approximately 6:10 p.m. after a resident called 911 reporting a woman floating in his backyard pool. When officers arrived, they found Carol-Jean Werkstell unresponsive in the water.
Werkstell, 76, was transported to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown where she was pronounced dead.
Crowds numbering in the several hundreds rallied at the corner of Route 112 and 347 in Port Jefferson Station June 22 calling for people to support police. It was a counterpoint to the over 100 protests all across Long Island calling for an end to police violence for the past several weeks.
People waved thin blue line flags and held signs supporting police reading “back the blue” and “respect and honor our law enforcement.”
The pro-police rally came three weeks after a protest against police violence in the same location, which some local progressive activists have called “resistance corner.” Some came with flags, signs or hats supporting President Donald Trump (R). Most people in the crowd at the June 22 rally were not wearing face masks, compared to other recent protests where the majority were wearing some kind of face covering.
Suffolk County Police officers stood at both sides of the protest line and entrance to the small park, and others milled about the crowd, with many people thanking them for their service. Most cars passing by honked in support, though there was a small number of counter protesters holding signs supporting Black Lives Matter on the other side of Route 347. Towards the start of the rally a woman pulled to the side of the road and got out of her car, cursing at the people standing on the sidewalk who responded with expletives of their own before a cop came by to tell her to get back in her car.
People at the rally said police have become disrespected since the start of the nationwide protests after the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd in police custody. Though they admitted what the police did in that situation was wrong, when one officer leaned his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes until EMTs arrived, they said most cops want to do good.
Annemarie Lopez, of Port Jefferson, said she was at the rally in remembrance of her brother, Christie Masone along with his partner Norman Cerullo who were shot and killed in the line of duty in 1978.
“There are good cops and bad cops, but these are people putting their lives on the line,” Lopez said.
Others said the calls for police budgets to be cut will ultimately make the Island less safe.
“Cops are being treated unfairly — this will be detrimental to our safety, we don’t need cuts to police,” said Maria Leonette, a nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital.
The Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association had a large presence, sporting a trailer which handed out water to people during the hot June afternoon.
PBA President Noel DiGerolamo saw it as an incredible turnout that showed a “humbling support for the men and women of law enforcement. The silent majority isn’t silent anymore.”
At the height of the rally, the crowds gathered under the trees in the center of the park to hear people speak, including former chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Party John Jay LaValle, who was introduced as a spokesperson for Trump.
One of the two main organizers for the rally, Jonathan Stuart of Manorville, said “I could not let the broad stroke of social justice, virtue signaling and cancel culture paint all the police in the shot of the heinous death of George Floyd,” adding, “Is every person who puts on their bullet proof vest, turn their radio on, holster their pistol, shine their badge and kiss their family goodbye a murderer? No. Racist? No.”
Well over 100 peaceful protesters lined Route 25A in Rocky Point June 12, calling for an end to police brutality and more in the wake of Minneapolis man George Floyd’s killing in police custody almost three weeks ago.
A number of area locals and other Long Island residents crowded the sidewalk in front of the Kohl’s shopping center. Suffolk County Police were present, mainly asking protesters to keep off the road for safety reasons.
A diverse crowd of multiple races and ages shouted slogans such as “black lives matter,” and “I can’t breathe,” also the last words of Floyd and Eric Garner, who was killed during a police chokehold in New York City in 2014. Several passing cars honked their horns in support.
Jim Sweeney, a Selden resident, said the protests today have shown much more diversity than those in the 1960s during the civil rights movement, though so many of the problems remain the same as they were over half a century since.
“Everyone wants to say its one bad cop, its one bad cop, but there were four cops who killed George Floyd, there were supervisors who falsified the report, there was a medical examiner who tried to say it wasn’t murder — how did Floyd run into seven bad people in one instance?” Sweeney said. “If Floyd was white, he wouldn’t have even been handcuffed.”
Other protesters said they have been calling for an end to black oppression for many years.
“I’m a privileged white woman, who no matter what obstacles in my life I have been able to overcome them, but I can’t say the same for my black brothers and sisters, so I want to stand here in support of them,” said Mary Cappasso.
While many residents wrote on social media, they feared violence from the protests, all still remained peaceful.
“We’re protesting because black Americans deserve the same rights that everyone else already has and they’ve been oppressed too long, it’s time to speak up,” said Nikita Narsingh, of Mount Sinai. “If there’s any time it’s now,”
Sound Beach resident Emily Marciano came to the protest with her son, Dontae. She is white, while her son is black. She said it’s systemic racism as a whole that needs reform, not just the police.
“Whenever I see [police violence against minorities] it scares me to think … I’ve also been told by someone in the area ‘you don’t shoot deer, you do black people,” she said. “It scares me when my son goes out, wondering if he could come home or he could not come home, if someone sees him and doesn’t like the color of his skin.”
In a milestone indicative of how deadly and prolonged the toll of the virus has been, Suffolk County reported the first day without a death from COVID-19 since March 16.
“I’m finally able to say that no one in Suffolk County in the last 24 hours has died from COVID-19,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. “That’s a great place to be.”
While Bellone said the county, which entered Phase Two of its reopening Wednesday, June 10, still has a ways to go before it controls the spread of a virus that has claimed the lives of 1,945 people in the county, the day without a death from the pandemic is a “milestone.”
With many other states, including Texas and North Carolina, are experiencing a surge in the number of people diagnosed with the virus and being admitted to hospitals for their care, Suffolk County continues to experience a decline in the number of residents testing positive.
Indeed, in the last day, despite protests over the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a former police officer charged with murder, the number of people who tested positive in the county only increased by 47, raising the total to 40,559.
Bellone attributed the current condition on Long Island to the pain, uncertainty and suffering that rocked Long Island, which was the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.
“Because of the experience we’ve gone through, overwhelmingly, people are taking precautions,” Bellone said. “They are still listening to the guidance. Even at protests, even at demonstrations, I have seen people wearing face coverings.”
Suffolk County also has an advanced testing and contact tracing system that is making a difference as the area reopens.
Meanwhile, earlier today, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order requiring local police agencies to develop a plan that reinvents and modernizes police strategies and programs in their community based on community input. Each police agency’s plan must include procedures and practices that extend beyond the use of force by April 1, 2021.
The police forces have to engage the public in the process, present a plan for comments, and share that plan with a local legislative body. If the government doesn’t certify the plan, the police may not be eligible to receive future state funding.
Bellone said he “looks forward to working with the state” on community police policies. The county executive said he is proud of the work the Suffolk County Police Department has done with anti-bias training.
The SCPD has “developed leading edge initiatives.”
Cuomo also signed a bill passed by the state senate earlier this week repealing 50-a, a statue in civil law that prevented people from accessing records of police and other civil servants like firefighters. Advocates said this will allow more transparency, especially regarding police misconduct. Police unions and senate republicans said this would puts cops in more danger, despite proponents saying people cannot gain access to cops’ personal information.
Bellone reemphasized a point he has made in recent days amid the backlash against unjust and unfair policing polices, suggesting that the police are “part of the community, they aren’t coming into the community” from the outside.
Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said she met this morning at 11 a.m. with the President of the Guardians, which is an internal fraternal organization representing black officers. She meets with the Guardians on a monthly basis.
Officers in the Guardian “know they have accessibility to leadership,” Hart said. “Those conversations lead to suggestions.”
The discussion this morning was more informal and was part of an open conversation and dialog.
As for the impact of COVID-19 in the county, the numbers continue to show a hard-fought recovery from the deadly virus.
Hospitalizations in the 24 hours ending on June 10 declined by 17 to 134. The number of residents in the Intensive Care Unit also declined by four to 41.
“These are all great numbers,” Bellone said.
An additional 16 people were discharged from hospitals in the county.
The bed capacity remained below important levels. Residents with COVID-19 represented 66 percent of the overall beds, and below 60 percent of the ICU beds, which are below the 70 percent guidance offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The county handed out 17,000 pieces of personal protective equipment over the last day.
Finally, the county worked with Island Harvest to distribute food through a program called Nourish New York today.
The effort, which was at the Westfield South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, planned to distribute 100,000 pounds of food, including cheese, milk, yogurt, fresh fruit and vegetables and ground beef.
County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he is looking forward to getting a haircut tomorrow, as the county moves into Phase Two of its reopening.
“I have not seen so many people excited about the prospect of getting a haircut or going to the salon gas I have seen over the last week or so,” Bellone said on his daily call with reporters.
In addition to hair salons, car sales, outdoor dining and retail services can restart as the county’s COVID-19 numbers continue to move in the right direction, despite the possibility of an increase in infections amid the approximately 100 protests over the past week and a half in response to the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a police officer.
Bellone was grateful for the peaceful way protestors have expressed their constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment right to express themselves. He also praised the Suffolk County Police Department, including Commissioner Geraldine Hart and Chief Stuart Cameron as well as the men and women of the police force for what he called “improving relations” with the community which have enabled them to keep the peace despite hostile events in many urban areas.
The protests have started a national dialogue which has included a discussion about defunding the police, effectively remodeling the police department so that it focuses on crime while creating other bureaus to handle mentally ill people or face drug addicts. Bellone said he does not support such an initiative, which “doesn’t make any sense.”
He appreciated the work police officers do to fight crime and to investigate various levels of assault and murder.
As the protests continue, Bellone remained confident that the testing and contact tracing in place would enable the county, which has been at the epicenter of the pandemic, would allow the county to respond to any future outbreaks.
Viral Numbers
Over the last day, an additional 49 people have tested positive for COVID-19, which raises the total to 40,426. The number of people who have tested positive for the antibody stands at 15,856.
As of last week, the rate of transmission for the virus on Long Island was between 0.6 and 0.9. A figure above 1 raises the possibility of the spread of the virus.
Hospitalizations declined by three for the day ending on June 7 to 155 people. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also declined by three to 47.
Residents battling COVID-19 constitute 63 percent of hospital beds overall in the county and 53 percent in the ICU.
Over the last day, an additional 10 people have been discharged from county hospitals.
An additional four people died from complications related to COVID-19 over the last day. The death toll stands at 1,939.
Starting today, Bellone announced a Suffolk Cares program, which will provide food to those in need. Residents can call 311 from Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eligible residents will receive a box of nonperishable food within 24 to 30 hours. Residents who call on Friday will receive food on Monday.
Several hundred people crowded on to the north side of Nesconset Highway in Stony Brook June 7 in one of a series of protests against racial injustice and police brutality from all around Long Island.
Across from Smith Haven Mall, several hundred protesters gathered both along the busy intersection and a small field just behind the police barricades. At one point, police stopped traffic for a time to allow protesters to march down the road. Cars honked horns in support, and some drove by holding their own signs in solidarity with those at the rally.
Protesters shouted lines such as “no justice, no peace.” People also laid on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs, much as Minneapolis man George Floyd was May 25 when the now-fired officer Derek Chauvin pushed his knee into Floyd’s neck. The crowd shouted while on the ground, “I can’t breathe,” some of the last wods Floyd spoke.
Suffolk County has had around 85 protests since the killing of Floyd more than a week ago, according to County Executive Steve Bellone (D).
All photos by Mike Reilly
Churches, mosques and synagogues can reopen as Suffolk County enters Phase Two of its reopening this Wednesday, albeit with only 25 percent capacity.
Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that these houses of worship could admit community members and that religious leaders were responsible for ensuring compliance with the public health guidelines designed to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s an important time for our faith-based communities to be opened back up,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. “Our faith-based communities are ready to this. They understand what needs to be done.”
Separately, as protests continue on Long Island and throughout the world after the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a former police officer, who has been charged with his murder, public officials are engaging in ongoing conversations with community leaders bout ways to create greater equity and opportunity for everyone.
“There are areas for us to make progress,” Bellone said. “There is more work to be done.”
Bellone suggested the police department can look to make itself more diverse so that it “reflects in terms of its diversity the communities it serves across the county. That’s a priority for us.”
Bellone said conversations about equal opportunities occurred before the killing of Floyd and are moving into a “new phase” amid the protests and demonstrations.
Viral Numbers
The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 rose by 39 to 40,239 over the last day.
The number of residents in the hospital due to the pandemic declined by 13 to 200, while the number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds declined by one to 53 through June 4th.
An additional 24 people left the hospital over the last day.
The number of people who died due to complications related to COVID-19 in the last day was five, bringing the total to 1,923.
Despite officials saying practically all protests in Suffolk County have been peaceful to this point, unfounded rumors of potential violence are still being spread through social media, causing concern while protesters continue to call for an end to racial injustice and police violence.
Throughout the week, a flyer promoting a protest in Smithtown made its way through social media. The flyer depicts marchers holding up their fists in the classic black power symbol, though it also depicts fires from Minneapolis. It includes the words “Bring your spirit in all its inferno.” The location of the protests lists the Stop & Shop at 291 West Main St. just east of the bull statue and was set for June 7.
Residents online, in both Smithtown and neighboring townships, have taken that image and dialogue surrounding the protest to mean it would somehow involve violence. The main person promoting the protest, who on Twitter and Instagram goes by the name @plasticbagnomad, commented that it is planned to be “a peaceful demonstration. We are not advocating for violence at all.”
Her real name is Caitlin Matos-Rodriguez, of Central Islip, and she said there has been much misinformation on social media about her and the planned protest. Because of the misinformation and rumors, she has received multiple violent threats to her and other protesters from residents.
“I have never condoned violence on this protest,” she said. “My goal of this protest is to bring our voices into segregated towns of Long Island. Our roots on Long Island rival next to Jim Crow [laws] of the south — you can see that by the geography of Long Island alone.”
Referencing the general segregated nature of Long Island’s townships (Smithtown is over 90 percent white, according to census data), she added the point of the protest is to help open up more job opportunities, real estate opportunities and credit building opportunities for marginalized people of color.
The Town of Smithtown released a statement Wednesday about some of the undue anxiety from the community at large, not just about the mentioned protest, but about “a number of rumors, hoaxes, photos of fake advertisements for paid anarchists, and false posts of looting, night time demonstrations and other fictitious posts [that] have flooded social media, inflaming unbecoming verbal response and panic amidst a pandemic.”
The town said it is working with police and local fire districts to “ensure that any and all demonstrations in our community are done in a peaceful, lawful manner, ensuring the safety of all involved.”
Smithtown spokesperson Nicole Garguilo said residents were subjected to “a storm of false information,” including that bricks were being placed around the county to be used by protesters or even rumors that the Macy’s clothing store was being looted.
The Sunday protest and its organizer was a victim of that misinformation, which resulted in violent threats to her and any other protesters. Though now with the town and police having communicated with Matos-Rodriguez and other protest leaders, Garguilo said all will work to make sure the protest will be peaceful.
“This is a young woman who is motivated to express her first amendment right to assemble,” Garguilo said. “We’re are going to all be there in what we hope to disarm any community angst that’s out there with Caitlin. We want to make sure her message gets out clear.”
More people in surrounding communities have worked to clarify that it would remain peaceful. Julio Taku Jr., a Huntington resident and journalism student at Stony Brook University, said he and other community activists saw the reaction to the Smithtown protest and have sought to clarify what’s happening.
In a written statement he shared with TBR News Media, it said Matos-Rodriguez is in contact with town officials and Suffolk County Police to ensure a safe and peaceful demonstration.
“Local law enforcement from the 4th precinct will also be on hand to ensure the safety of all the demonstrators seeking to respectfully express their First Amendment right under the United States Constitution,” her statement read. “We stand in solidarity with the black community and wish to honor and support them in the best way possible. Black Lives Matter.”
The destination and route for the march is still to be determined before Sunday. A new poster for the protest sets the time at 2 p.m., but Garguilo said the time was being moved to 4 p.m.
In community Facebook pages, mentions of protests have been responded to with posts that suggest residents will resort to violence to stave off violent protests in their communities. So far all protests on the North Shore of Long Island have been reported as peaceful. While there have been nearly daily rallies in the Huntington area for the past several days, for eastern Suffolk in the TBR News Media coverage area, the closest rallies have taken place in Setauket, Port Jefferson Station and Riverhead, some involving hundreds of people peacefully protesting alongside a police presence.
On Wednesday, June 3, police posted to its Facebook page that there were rumors circulating around social media about piles of bricks being left at specific locations, as if to incite violence, and of bricks being thrown at cars below overpasses, but the department has not received any credible information towards those reports.
In Suffolk so far the only arrests of protesters were two people in Shirley June 1. Police said they responded to about 70 protesters who were marching down toward the 7th precinct along William Floyd Parkway, shutting the road from north of Sunrise Highway to the Seventh Precinct. Road closures stretched from Sunrise Highway to the Long Island Expressway. Police said the two people didn’t listen to police about staying in a designated area.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said in a video posted to the police Facebook she thanked the protesters while citing department initiatives with diversity training and other practices to reduce police violence.
“I want to recognize the protesters who have got their message out in a peaceful manner — we are listening,” she said.
This post will be updated with additional information regarding the protest or from Town of Smithtown.
This post was updated June 6 to relay updated times of the Smithtown protest.
Suffolk County Police said they arrested a man in Port Jeff for allegedly committing a lewd act in front of people at a park in Port Jefferson.
Police said a pedestrian saw a man committing a lewd act at Harborfront Park, located at 101 East Broadway at around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, June 4 and called 911.
6th Precinct officers said they arrested Frank Cappuccio was. Cappuccio 70, of 12 Hemlock Path, Port Jefferson was charged with Public Lewdness.
Village trustee Kathianne Snaden wrote on Facebook the man was “acting innapropriately” in a semi-dressed state while in his car.
Cappuccio was issued a eesk appearance ticket and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on June 24.
In response to the ongoing unrest in the country caused by the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a former police officer who has now been charged with second-degree murder, Suffolk County will field hate or bias crime calls through its 311 number.
Starting today, residents can call 311 to address concerns about bias or hate crimes that they are subjected to or that they witness.
“Hate, bias, bigotry and discrimination have no safe haven in Suffolk County,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. Operators will be ready to provide information or transfer callers to the Human Rights Commission, as needed.
At protests around the county, which included seven such gatherings yesterday in Suffolk, residents are expressing concerns about hate crimes and bias, Bellone said.
The county executive continued to show an appreciation for the way demonstrators behaved during their protests and the ongoing protection and surveillance from police.
“The demonstrations we have seen have been peaceful,” Bellone said. “They represent a contrast with events that have transpired in other communities in our country. That is a credit to the people demonstrating and to the Suffolk County Police Department.”
Amid the economic devastation from the lockdown, Bellone commissioned a financial report that he presented to various public sector unions earlier today. The report anticipates a revenue shortfall of between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion over the next two years.
Bellone shared with those unions his hope that federal representatives, including Sen. Charles Schumer (D) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1) will continue to support the county and will endorse financial assistance amid the financial devastation caused by the virus.
Bellone didn’t offer the unions any specific assurances, saying that he wanted to give them the foundation of the financial issues the county was facing.
Meanwhile, outdoor seating at restaurants will be allowed throughout the state as each region reaches phase two of its reopening. At the latest, Suffolk County could enter that phase next Wednesday.
SC Taskforce Worst Case Scenario Projects $590 Mln Revenue Shortfall for 2020
None of the choices is particularly appealing, but V is certainly better than W and U.
A COVID-19 Fiscal Impact Task Force report projected a range of economic scenarios for the county, depending on the impact of the virus later this year. In a “V” case, the economy rebounds quickly and continues to climb.
A “W” scenario, on the other hand, recovers, then stumbles amid a second wave of the virus that doesn’t require a lockdown, and then stages another recovery.
The worst-case scenario, however, is the “U,” in which a second wave presents enough of a recurring public health crisis that the economy recovers far more slowly.
The three possibilities will likely dictate the extent of the revenue shortfall over the next three years.
About $329 million of the overall revenue shortfalls come from actual declines in sales tax collection so far in 2020. Additionally, the task force, which included Emily Youssouf, Larian Angelo, Michael Kelly and Nathan Leventhal, anticipates a 4.9 percent shortfall in property tax collections, which translates into a reduction in collections of $35 million.
The group also projected a $30 million revenue shortfall from OTB/ casino and motel/ hotel taxes.
The range of revenue shortfalls through 2022 are from $1.136 billion to $1.518 billion. The biggest single-year gap between projected revenue and actual revenue would be in the “U” scenario for this year, for which the county would come up $590 million short.
The task force concluded that the current economic outlook requires a swift and dramatic response to prevent an economic disaster.
“Even the most optimistic scenario which the task force has examined will place enormous pressure on the ability of the county to maintain an acceptable level of government service which the County’s residents have every right to expect,” the group warned in its conclusions.
Viral Numbers
The number of residents who tested positive for the virus was 82, raising the total with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 40,062. With 4,840 tests, that represents a 1.7% percent positive rate among those tested, which is well below the rate for positive tests in April.
The number of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 declined by 11 to 236 as of the 24 hours ending on June 1. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also fell by six to 61.
The percentage of people in hospital beds with COVID-19 was 63 percent, while the percentage in the ICU was 52 percent, both of which provide the kind of flexibility in the health care system the state hoped to provide.
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