QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, February 2, 2012 Page 38
SQ page 38
Jamaica teen killed in crash A freshman at Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica was killed in a car accident last week, police said. Leon Ramroop, 14, was driving a gray 2000 BMW with an 18-year-old passenger on Jan. 26 at approximately 5 a.m. He was traveling westbound on the Grand Central Parkway service road near 172nd Street when he crashed into the fencing which separates it from the highway and then hit a tree, according to the NYPD. Police from the 107th Precinct and FDNY personnel responded to the crash. Ramroop, of Foch Boulevard in Jamaica, was transported to Queens Hospital Center with head trauma and pronounced dead on arrival. The passenger was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with injuries to his abdomen, groin, and hip and is in stable condition, police said. Marge Feinberg, the spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said Friday that the teen’s mother had notified the school of his death and grief counselors have been stationed there to help students deal with the tragedy. On his Facebook page, Ramroop listed Bob Marley, Drake and Sean Paul among his favorite musicians and “South Park,” “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” as some of his Q favorite television shows. — AnnMarie Costella
Help find runaway Jassmyn, 15 Missing since Jan. 13, Jamaica girl has been troubled by Peter C. Mastrosimone Editor-in-Chief
A distraught Jamaica mother is asking the public’s help in finding her troubled 15-year-old daughter, who ran away from home Jan. 13 and hasn’t been heard of since. Jassmyn Car r was born to a crackaddicted prostitute of a mother but was
taken in as a foster child and then adopted by Erica Carr, a nurse who works in Forest Hills. Jassmyn has had her issues, according to her mother, and has run away twice before, but came home quickly. Things seemed to come to a head recently, though, and the last time anyone saw her for sure was three weeks ago, at the Walgreens at the corner of Hillside
Jassmyn Carr is attractive and physically mature for her age, her mother notes, adding to her worry COURTESY PHOTOS about what kind of trouble she might get into.
Avenue and 175th Street. Carr believes her daughter may have gone or be trying to get to Virginia, where the family used to live and some relatives remain. She wants Jassmyn to know that her problems — which include allegedly having stolen money from a nonprof it group where she was volunteering, trouble at school and recent pressure to use drugs — are not her mother’s top concerns now. Getting her home safely is. “My love is unconditional,” Erica Carr said. “No matter what she’s going through, no matter what she feels, even in light of what she’s just done, my love is unconditional. I’m here to listen, and I’d do anything I can to help her.” Jassmyn’s worried family includes a biological brother her mother also adopted, another brother and a sister. The teen was wearing a white blouse, black pants, gray and purple high top sneakers and a red Old Navy pea coat with large black buttons when last seen. She was born on May 25, 1996, has brown eyes, is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds. Jassmyn’s disappearance is classified as that of an endangered runaway and listed as case number USNY15740 on missingkids.com, the website of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at Q (212) 694-7781.
PHOTO COURTESY RIDGEWOOD SAVINGS BANK
New CEO for Ridgewood Savings Bank
Hundreds attend benefit for Glendale mom Glendale resident Eileen DiBenedetto has always dropped everything for a friend — so when she needed a helping hand, it was no surprise that hundreds of people came to her side. More than 200 people attended a fundraiser for DiBenedetto, pictured center in hat, who is battling stage 4 lung cancer, at Yerman’s Irish Pub in Glendale last Saturday night. Those who attended donated more than
$5,000, all of which is going into an account for DiBenedetto’s 8-year-old daughter, Crystal Anne, pictured next to her mother. DiBenedetto also has a son who is in his 20s. “Eileen’s the type of person who’s always doing things for other people, and we wanted to have something done for her,” said Lori Donaldson, a Glendale resident who organized the event along with Susan Weissmeier, also of Glendale. “She’s an amazing lady with the
strength of an ox. She’s a fighter.” Saturday’s event included music provided by a dee-jay, food and a raffle. “It was an amazing night for an amazing lady,” Donaldson said. “It was really nice to do something good for her start to finish.” Donations for DiBenedetto’s daughter are still being collected. For more information, email Donaldson at loredore8@msn.com.
The Ridgewood Saving Bank board of trustees approved the promotion of Peter Boger to chairman and chief executive officer on Jan. 27. Boger also will continue to serve as the bank’s president. He joined the bank in March 1999 and will succeed William McGarry, who is retiring after serving in both capacities since January 2004. “As we pass our 90th anniversary, I look forward to continuing our bank’s mutuality and unwavering mission as a ‘community first’ bank,” Boger said in a prepared statement. Ridgewood Savings Bank is the largest mutual savings bank in New York State, with $4.8 billion in assets.