Teen Heroes Who Turned in Alleged Subway Fire Killer are Blocked From Receiving $10K NYPD Reward On Technicality, Families Say: ‘Such B.S.’; Meet the Teen Heroes Who Turned Sicko Suspected of Burning Woman to Death in NYC Subway Over to Cops: ‘Really surreal’
Teen heroes who turned in alleged subway fire killer are blocked from receiving $10K NYPD reward on technicality, families say: ‘Such B.S.’:
This makes no cents.
The teen heroes who nabbed subway arson killer Sebastian Zapeta-Calil have been denied the $10,000 reward promised by the NYPD — allegedly because they called the wrong phone number to report it, The Post has learned.
The trio of eagle-eyed high school basketball players — who spotted the firebug on a Queens-bound F train hours after he allegedly burned a woman to death — were told by the reward administrators that they were ineligible for the cash because they called 911 to report their sighting instead of the Crimes Stoppers tip line.
“I think it’s such B.S. that you have to call this exact number. Most people call 911,” the father of one of the boys, Navid, told The Post.
“[Getting the money] is not why they did it, but it would be nice. This was a heinous crime and this man was caught right away because of them.”
Before Zapeta-Calil was busted for his cruel and heinous attack, the NYPD highly publicized that it was offering $10,000 to anyone giving information leading to the capture.
Navid’s father, who asked to remain anonymous, had attempted to secure the sum shortly after his son and his two pals, Kingson and Christos, made the fateful 911 call on Dec. 22.
A detective with the 60th Precinct “was adamant that police had nothing to do” with doling out the $10,000 prize and referred the Brooklyn family to its partners at Crime Stoppers — which advertises cash for a “tip that leads to an arrest and indictment.”
But a representative for the anonymous tip agency dashed the family’s hopes by allegedly claiming they weren’t entitled to the funds because Navid and his friends called 911 instead of the much longer and more convoluted 800-577-TIPS line.
“They don’t even know about the tip hotline! Look, if I see something happening in front of me, I’m not going to try to look up the hotline. I’m gonna call 911,” said the dad, who did not want his son’s full name used for his safety.
City Council Member Susan Zhuang — who this month honored Kingson, who lives in her district, for his bravery — called on the NYPD to step up.
“These teens deserve the reward! Denying them the reward is wrong. These are just kids and they are taught to call 911, not some tip line,” Zhuang told The Post.
“They made a good-faith effort to call the police who immediately caught the suspect. That is all that should matter, and we should be encouraging this type of behavior. The NYPD should immediately address this issue.”
When asked by The Post why the 14-year-olds were blocked from the $10,000 reward, the NYPD only said the “NYPD Crime Stoppers Program offers cash rewards for anonymous information provided to the 1-800-577-TIPS hotline that leads to the arrest and indictment of a violent felon. This program is supported by the New York Police Foundation and focuses on solving high priority violent crimes.” —>READ MORE HERE
Meet the teen heroes who turned sicko suspected of burning woman to death in NYC subway over to cops: ‘Really surreal’:
Three Brooklyn teens boarded an F train last month with hopes of carrying their basketball team to victory — and they wound up bringing a dangerous criminal suspect to justice.
Christos Strieder and his pals, Kingson and Navid, made the fateful 911 call on Dec. 22 that landed sick firebug Sebastian Zapeta-Calil behind bars for allegedly torching a sleeping homeless woman to death on the same train line earlier that day.
The 14-year-olds had only learned about the heinous crime a mere five minutes earlier as a warning from one of their mothers — and they were shocked to actually run into him out of the millions of people in the transit system.
“It was that big of a coincidence to the point where I felt like I was dreaming — like it wasn’t even real. Things happen in the world, but you don’t actually feel like it’s going to happen to you,” Kingson recalled in an exclusive interview with The Post.
“It just felt really surreal to me. I didn’t really think anything of it at first. But then once I actually got home and started thinking about it, everything really started to set in that that really happened.”
The friends, all freshmen at a Brooklyn high school, had hopped on the F train at 7th Avenue that Sunday as they headed to a junior varsity basketball game in Queens.
Having just read the article sent by Navid’s mother about the tragic arson murder, the picture of the suspected firebug was fresh in their mind when Christos noticed an otherwise non-descript man sleeping in the train car.
“We walked onto the train and we were joking like, ‘He’s going to be on this train’ and then we walk on and I see him,” said Christos, who lives in Kensington.
“They didn’t believe me at first because they thought I was joking. But then after a couple of minutes, they also looked at him and then they realized, ‘okay, that’s actually him’ . . . The tone got a little bit more serious.”
Zapeta-Calil was wearing the same black hoodie and gray sweatshirt he donned when he allegedly ignited Debbie Kawam earlier that day. Much like his victim, the sadist was also sleeping as he rode the rails.
Somehow, no other straphangers on the crowded F train noticed the accused firebug — despite news of the horrific crime ripping through the city and stirring a frenzy. —>READ MORE HERE