Valley Stream
HERALD
Prayers for a safe return to school
liJ nurses protest pay, safety
District 30 celebrates art
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Vol. 31 No. 34
AUGUST 20 - 26, 2020
$1.00
Two charged in dispute with neighbor eos but, she noted, “This kind of persistent harassment is never acceptable.” Two Valley Stream residents The arrests came after Mcwere arrested and arraigned on Eneaney’s neighbor Jennifer misdemeanor charges Monday McLeggan, a nurse and a single after allegations that they had Black mother, alleged the two racially harassed had harassed her their next-door since she moved into neighbor, according her home on Sapir to the office of NasStreet in 2017. Mcsau County District Eneaney and CanarAttorney Madeline ick are white. Singas. McLe g g an, 39, John McEneaney, detailed the alleged 57, was charged with abuse on a sign she fourth-degree crimiposted in her doornal mischief with w ay e a rly l a s t intent to damage month. Photos of property and firstthe sign were shared degree harassment, widely on social while his girlfriend, media, drawing a Mindy Canarick, 53, MADeliNe groundswell of supwas charged with port, including a third-degree crimi- SiNGAS protest that drew nal tampering, pros- Nassau County more than 1,000 peoecutors reported. If ple on July 16. The district attorney convicted of the top sign, and the media charges, McEneaney attention that folcould serve up to a year in pris- lowed, prompted a probe into the on, while Canarick could serve allegations, which, Singas said, up to three months. revealed “a pattern of harassing There was no evidence of a conduct against Ms. McLeggan.” hate crime, Singas said, after “This is a long time coming,” investigators and detectives had said Heather Palmer, an attorney interviewed witnesses and vil- for McLeggan. “Jennifer has lage code enforcement officers, been harassed and been frightand reviewed surveillance vidContinued on page 4
By PeTer Belfiore pbelfiore@Liherald.com
T
Peter Belfiore/Herald
TiTo VelASqUez, of Valley Stream, emerged from the Stern Family Rehabilitation Center in Manhasset on Monday with his wife, Juana, and brother, Humberto, after 111 days of treatment for Covid-19. Doctors had not expected him to survive.
‘Every day was touch and go’
Valley Streamer survives 111 days with Covid-19 By PeTer Belfiore pbelfiore@liherald.com
Tito Velasquez’s skin had turned blue when he stumbled into LIJ Valley Stream on April 28, his doctors said. He was suffering from Covid-19, and his blood oxygenation was 11 percent, which Dr. Jason Yan, an LIJ emergency physician, said was so low that it was consistent with a machine error, but further tests confirmed it. Within minutes of intake,
Velasquez, 33, was intubated and placed on a ventilator. At that point, Yan said, he expected his patient to die in moments. But 111 days later, Velasque z had survived, and walked, albeit unsteadily, with a cane, out the doors of the Stern Family Rehabilitation Center in Manhasset, the Northwell Health facility where he had spent the last phase of his recovery. After more than three months, two strokes, a collapsed lung and a
coma, Velasquez, speaking in Spanish through a translator on Aug. 17, joked that he looked forward to finally eating a good meal. He said he never doubted his survival, but the doctors who cared for him said they were far less certain. When Velasquez entered LIJ’s Emergency Room, he immediately lost consciousness. Covid-19 had thickened his blood, and he had already Continued on page 5
his conduct crossed the line between being a bad neighbor and into the realm of criminality.