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Overcast Lynbrook, East Rockaway officials support police officers at event
Members of the Lynbrook village board of trustees and Lynbrook Police Department donated a tree to the Hewlett House during its event on Sunday in support of law enforcement officers.
Hewlett House Director Geri Barish organized the event in support of Officer Jason Rivera, 22, who died on the job after being shot in Harlem on Jan. 21, and Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, who was shot by the same gunman and succumbed to his injury on Jan. 25.
Rivera died on Jan. 21 just hours after being shot by Lashawn McNeil, 47, who opened fire on him and Mora after coming out from behind a bedroom door and surprising the officers as they walked down a narrow hallway in his Harlem apartment. McNeil was shot by a third officer, rookie Sumit Sulan, and died on Jan. 24. Rivera became one of the youngest NYPD officers to die in the line of duty.
In response, the Hewlett House hosted an event to honor their lives and show support for local law enforcement. Mayors and law enforcement officers from several villages and towns in Nassau and Suffolk counties attended the event, including Lynbrook Mayor Alan Beach and East Rockaway Mayor Bruno Romano.
Beach and the Lynbrook board donated a tree to the house, which Barish will encourage community members to place blue ribbons on as a show of solidarity for police officers across the state. The Lynbrook mayor thanked Barish for hosting the event, and noted that he had a cousin who worked as an NYPD officer and died in the line of duty from a gunshot wound on Sept. 10, 2004.
“Without rules, there’s chaos,” Beach told the Herald after the event. “Without law enforcement, there’s chaos. We need our police.”
Attendees also included Lynbrook Police Chief Brian Paladino, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Hempstead Town Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby and Town Councilman Anthony D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective.
The Lynbrook High School Student Government Association was also planning on showing support for police officers at LHS on Wednesday at 11 a.m., after the Herald went to press.
