Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Very very sad

Such a tragedy that has occurred in South Troy this week. Nothing can be worse than losing a child, for the whole family, extended family, neighbors and friends.

Children are innocent and very unaware of dangers about them. There is no blaming anyone in this situation, Officer John Wright, I am sure is in a very sad emotional state. I can speak on both sides of this issue. In my early twenties I was in So. Lansing burgh, coasting to a light at 102nd St. when a child playing tag with many other children in front of Mt. Moriah Lodge ran out from the sidewalk and right into the side of my car. I had no idea of what had happened, just that I heard a loud bang on the side of my car. There was a Wedding going on inside the facility, all the Parents were inside and the children outside playing. This young man was 6 yrs. Old. I don’t believe he even knew what had happened as he was involved in his being chased by others. I was sick to my stomach with worry. A mob came out and surrounded me hurling accusations over something they hadn’t seen. I was alone. Upset emotionally and scared. Troy Police came, we all went up to the hospital with the child and thank God no injuries. I never forgot it.

Jump ahead 8 years, my Son was coming home on the bus from the Lansing burgh Boys and Girls club and departed from the bus and crossed in front, and a car decided to go ahead anyway from behind the bus and clipped Michael as he was crossing right into the path of a truck coming the other way. Michael was severely injured, he was 6 also. Later that night after he was transferred from Samaritan Hospital to St. Peters, I was taken aside by the Dr’s and told there was a very good chance he wasn’t going to make the night. They would do all they could to relieve the pressure and fluid on his brain, he had a huge clot on the side of his head filled with fluid and blood that made his head look 1-1/2 times the size it was. I went into the bathroom and threw up. I know both sides and the pain is horrible.

Day in and day out in North Central we complain about people not using the sidewalks, we put in new sidewalks and people still walk in the middle of the road, blocking cars trying to get by. Mothers push their little ones in the “umbrella strollers”, they don’t realize when walking across a intersection against the light, those little ones are 5 to 6 ft. out in front of them in flimsy little strollers. How is a driver to see them?

We had a little boy hit on 6th Ave. just south of 101st St. He ran out from between 2 cars, and I believe he was about 6 yrs. of age. They are too SMALL to see! Adults have to watch these poor little ones. This fellow was severely hurt too, and no one could locate his parents. My God the memories flooded back!

The family of our latest little victim are heartbroken, the Community is upset. Officer Wright is devastated. The Family is demanding ANSWERS. There are none. Just facts of what happened, never, ever to be changed. The poor little guy was in the street unsupervised, way too small to be seen. If he were seen Officer Wright would have stopped. No one can change this; all we can do is pray for the little one and all those involved. Pray that in the future also, these children will be kept in a safer place, and the Parents and other Guardians remember this tragedy and protect the rest of these precious little lives.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Community Police Officers

Some of us are familiar with Community Policing and others are not. Generally residents who reside in an urban setting are, though many are not. Perhaps they don’t have problems in their area that make them become familiar with this type of Policing or they are just not aware.

Community policing is a whole different breed of Officer. Community Officers are full fledged members of the Police force and have worked both sides of policing, but deal mostly with the Social problems in the Community. They focus on the little problems to prevent them from blossoming into larger problems thus, hopefully, saving a situation from becoming much more serious. What problems do they encounter you might ask? Well in Troy, Absentee Landlordism probably fills their slate during the day the most. Part of the problems that stem from this new breed of Entrepreneur are garbage issues, overcrowding of apartments, illegally breaking down on larger houses or apartments, code violations, noise and a variety of other issues that can make residents life miserable.

Anyone who attends their monthly Neighborhood Assn. meeting knows their Officer personally and seeks their help with the issues that are brought to the forefront at the meeting. Not only do you get to know your Officer first hand but we tend to “bond” so to speak with them, they become our ‘friends’ and not just a Cop. So where am I going with this? Well this week our Officer for the North Central area, Kevin Sessions, was injured while on Bike Patrol. He was biking on Fifth Avenue, when a women opened her car door into traffic and right into the path of Kevin. Yes, Kevin got whacked, he was injured pretty well, he was knocked off his bike and his arm and knee were quite damaged. He has a good injury on his upper arm and this could have been much more serious then it was. What if Kevin had been thrown into the path of the car following him? What if the other cars in the road hit their brakes and swerved to avoid him and then hit another car or pedestrian and most folks were injured? None of these things happened but poor Kevin is on the injury list. He is new to Community Policing and we feel badly this happened to him. We miss him.. So let us all let him know we are thinking of him. A card can be sent to him at 55 State St. Troy, NY, OR you can leave your ‘get well soon’ thoughts or comments here on the BLOG for him.. Let’s make him laugh and see the humorous side of this, because that is the way we are!