The Wall Street Journal - 22.08.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Thursday, August 22, 2019 |A10A

BYTESSRISKI

Mr. Baig, who was released

without being charged after

the Aug. 11 incident, faces up

to 15 years in prison. He is due

back in court on Oct. 23.

A lawyer for Mr. Baig

couldn’t be reached for com-

ment on Wednesday.

Mr. Alzorriz was the 19th

cyclist killed in an accident

this year. Ten cyclists were

killed in all of 2018.

The jump in cyclist deaths

this year has put increased fo-

cus on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s

Vision Zero initiative, which

aims to eliminate all traffic

deaths, and has renewed calls

for greater criminal penalties

for motorists who cause pe-

destrian or cyclist deaths.

Marco Conner, deputy direc-

tor of Transportation Alterna-

tives, a group that advocates

for decreased car use, said a

study by his organization found

that only about 7% of motorists

involved in pedestrian or cy-

clist deaths are charged with

homicide or manslaughter.

“We need to hold individu-

als accountable, but it can’t

just be for the sake of penaliz-

ing that individual,” he said. “It

has to be for the sake of deter-

ring future reckless driving.”

Mr. Baig, who lives in Rego

Park, Queens, allegedly was

driving 61 miles an hour in a

25-mph zone on Coney Island

Avenue in Midwood when he

collided with the SUV that

killed Mr. Alzorriz.

Brooklyn District Attorney

Eric Gonzalez on Wednesday

warned of the dangers of driv-

ing recklessly.

“I am committed to doing my

part to promote safety and will

continue to investigate cases of

vehicular violence and bring

criminal charges wherever they

are supported by the facts and

the law,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

An 18-year-old Queens man
was charged with manslaugh-
ter and criminally negligent
homicide in a crash in Brook-
lyn that killed a cyclist and in-
jured another motorist.
Umar Baig was arrested on
Wednesday, nearly two weeks
after he allegedly barreled
through a red light and into a
sport-utility vehicle, pinning
52-year-old Jose Alzorriz be-
tween the vehicle and a brick
wall, the Brooklyn district at-
torney’s office said.

BYTYLERBLINT-WELSH
ANDBENCHAPMAN

Driver Is Charged in Cyclist’s Death

Blasio “does not have the legal

authority to forgive state taxes.”

“Now, if he wants to pay

$200,000 on behalf of the

pizza place, he can do that and

that’s fine,” he said. “If he

wants to get $200,000 worth

of pizza, that’s his business.”

Margaret Mieles, the

daughter of founder Dom De

Marco, was happy to hear of

Mr. de Blasio’s support and

hopes to work with the state

to pay off the debt. “It brings

cheer to my heart,” she said,

adding that they plan to re-

open the Midwood pizzeria as

early as Thursday.

Mr. de Blasio’s support for

the 54-year-old pizzeria rankled

some city business owners, who

say they struggle to survive.

“There’s more than 24,

eating and drinking establish-

ments throughout the five bor-

oughs who would love him to

help them,” said Andrew Rigie,

the executive director of the

For nearly a decade, New
York City has made public the
names of thousands of women
who had either miscarriages,
stillbirths or possibly abor-
tions between 1981 and 2017,
raising alarms among medical
privacy experts.
The information is included
in burial records for Hart Is-
land, one of the largest public
cemeteries in the country and
a potter’s field for unclaimed
bodies and deceased low-in-
come city residents.
The city has been handing
over the records since 2009 to
an advocacy group, the Hart
Island Project, which has com-
piled the information into a
searchable online database
meant to allow relatives to lo-
cate the remains of a loved
one buried on the island.
However, the database also
includes burial records for fe-
tuses and stillborn babies, in-
cluding the hospital where the
pregnancy ended. Recent
burial records list the term
“fetus of” or “conceptus of,”
followed by the woman’s first
and last name. Older records
denote “FD” for fetal death, or
“SB” for stillborn.
While records don’t say
whether the fetal remains
were from an abortion, mis-
carriage or stillbirth, it does
say the gestation period at
which the pregnancy ended.
The gestation periods range
from 15 weeks to full term.
Currently, anyone can

search the database by a

woman’s last name to see if

she has fetal remains or a

stillborn child buried on the

island. Until recently, the city’s

Department of Correction,

which oversees Hart Island,

had also maintained its own

public database of burial re-

cordsthereonitswebsite.

Medical ethicists say the

publication of this information

is an invasion of personal pri-

vacy, and that it has the po-

tential to cause harm.

“Your personal medical in-

formation is yours,” said Rob-

ert Klitzman, the director of

the bioethics program at Co-

lumbia University. “I don’t

have a right to go and broad-

cast that information.”

The Department of Correc-

tion said that it followed the

law in releasing the informa-

tion to the Hart Island Project

and in publishing the informa-

tion on its own website. None

of the records explicitly stated

whether the woman had a mis-

carriage or stillbirth, the de-

partment said. However, this

year the correction department

began removing records of the

first and last names of the

women whose fetal remains

were buried on the island.

“We believe it is important

to help families locate loved

ones who are buried on the is-

land while simultaneously re-

specting privacy,” said Jason

Kersten, a spokesman for the

Department of Correction.

Melinda Hunt, president of

the Hart Island Project, de-

fended publishing the burial

records online, saying that the

intent is to memorialize the

dead and empower family

members to locate their loved

ones’ remains through a reli-

able database that operates

separately from the city’s.

Ms. Hunt said scores of

women over the years have

thanked her for helping them

locate the remains of their still-

born child or infant, and that

they took no issue with their

name being attached. “People

don’t want to be reduced to the

number,” she said. “Most peo-

ple want to be a name.”

Privacy experts say the dis-

closure could lead to discrimi-

nation. “You’re then taking the

identity of the individual and

the medical procedure they re-

ceived, and exposing that per-

son to not only potential iden-

tity theft, but potential

discrimination for the choices

that they’ve made,” said Mi-

chael Arrigo, a health privacy

expert witness.

GREATER NEW YORK

Advocacy groups that sup-

port families who experienced

miscarriages and stillbirths

said it should be up to the

parents to decide whether the

information is made public.

“I do believe parents should

have written consent in order

for their personal loss of their

baby to be disclosed publicly,”

said Sarah Slack, the founder

and chief executive of the

TEARS Foundation, which of-

fers families bereavement sup-

port after the death of a child.

Hart Island is located off

the coast of the Bronx. About

1,200 burials occur on the is-

land in a year, and 21% of

those annual burials are of fe-

tal remains, according to City

Council legislation.

For years, New York City res-

idents advocated for a stream-

lined, reliable system to locate

graves on the island. In 2008,

the Hart Island Project sued the

Department of Correction to

hand over decades’ worth of

burial records through the Free-

dom of Information Law so it

could create an online database.

The two parties settled in

2009 when the Department of

Correction agreed to provide

the burial records on the con-

dition that it redact only the

location of death if it occurred

at a private residence. The

Hart Island Project then pub-

lished thousands of records in

their entirety on its website.

In 2013, the City Council

passed a law requiring the De-

partment of Correction to

maintain its own online data-

base of the island’s burials.

About 30,100 infant-burial

records, including ones for fe-

tal remains, have been handed

over to the Hart Island Proj-

ect. The project’s records span

40 years.

Fetal Burial Records Spark Concerns

Hart Island database

allows relatives to find

remains of loved ones;

privacy questions arise

Anyone can search the database by a woman’s last name to see if she has fetal remains or a stillborn child buried on Hart Island.

DANIEL HERBERT & PARKER GYOKEROS/THE HART ISLAND PROJECT

Sgt. Adonis, who has served

on the NYPD for 17 years,

didn’t respond to requests for

comment. She was placed on

modified duty in 2016 over her

actions related to Mr. Garner’s

death but returned to her full

duties in 2018.

Disciplinary proceedings

against Sgt. Adonis were fin-

ished with Wednesday’s an-

nouncement, said NYPD

spokeswoman Devora Kaye.

In announcing his decision

to fire Mr. Pantaleo on Mon-

day, Commissioner O’Neill

faulted the 34-year-old former

officer’s actions, but said he

might have made the same

mistake in similar circum-

stances.

Mr. Pantaleo’s lawyer, Stu-

art London, has said he would

appeal Mr. O’Neill’s decision.

NYPD officials have said

they won’t seek disciplinary

action against any other offi-

cers involved in Mr. Garner’s

death.

The city’s chief medical ex-

aminer ruled Mr. Garner’s

death a homicide, but a Staten

Island grand jury in 2014 de-

clined to indict Mr. Pantaleo

on criminal charges related to

the incident.

Last month, federal prose-

cutors declined to bring civil-

rights charges against Mr.

Pantaleo after determining

they lacked sufficient evidence

to prove he willfully violated

Mr. Garner’s rights.

A New York Police Depart-

ment sergeant accused of fail-

ing to adequately supervise an

officer who was involved in

Eric Garner’s death in 2014

will keep her job but lose 20

vacation days, law-enforce-

ment officials said Wednesday.

An NYPD probe found su-

pervising officer Sgt. Kizzy

Adonis’s oversight of police

was lacking in some areas but

concluded that nothing about

her actions caused former offi-

cer Daniel Pantaleo to use a

banned chokehold on Mr. Gar-

ner or delayed the arrival of

medical attention for him.

Law-enforcement officials

cited Sgt. Adonis’s otherwise

clean disciplinary record and

positive employee reviews in

allowing her to remain on the

force.

Gwen Carr, Mr. Garner’s

mother, had called for the fir-

ing of Sgt. Adonis and other

officers involved in the death

of her 43-year-old son. On

Wednesday, she criticized

Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD

officials for failing to deliver a

more serious punishment to

Sgt. Adonis.

“I am outraged and dis-

gusted by how the de Blasio

administration and the NYPD

continue to show that they

don’t care about the murder of

my son or black lives,” Ms.

Carr said in a statement.

Police Commissioner James

O’Neill fired Mr. Pantaleo on

Monday for holding Mr. Gar-

ner in a prohibited chokehold

as he tried to arrest Mr. Gar-

ner for allegedly selling loose

cigarettes in Staten Island.

The incident was captured on

video, and Mr. Garner’s death

sparked a national conversation

about race and policing.

BYBENCHAPMAN

Sergeant in Garner

NYC Hospitality Alliance. Case Keeps Her Job

Stratis Morfogen, a veteran

New York City restaurateur and

managing member of Brooklyn

Chop House, said he doesn’t

feel dining establishments are

supported enough by the

mayor. “For him to pick out

one restaurant is uncalled for. I

think he should figure out how

to help the industry,” he said.

Heath St. Clair’s restaurant,

Burke & Wills on the Upper

West Side, was closed in late

2017 for owing about $200,

in taxes caused by an increase

in business costs. The restau-

rant has since reopened.

“I think he’s a politician. Is he

actually going to help them or is

he just talking?” said Mr. St.

Clair of the mayor’s offer to help

Di Fara. He said he would like to

see the city offer support to res-

taurants in other ways, includ-

ing commercial rent control.

A de Blasio spokeswoman

said the mayor “has champi-

oned the needs of small busi-

nesses through our Small

Business First plan.”

—Jimmy Vielkind

contributed to this article.

Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed
to help beloved Brooklyn pizza
joint Di Fara a day after it was
seized by New York state for
failing to pay taxes, but the
show of support miffed some
business owners in the city.
“Di Fara is THE best pizza
place in New York City,” Mr. de
Blasio, a Democrat, tweeted
Wednesday morning. “I’m ready
to do anything I can to get them
reopened—as are thousands of
New York City pizza-lovers.”
The state on Tuesday
closed the family-owned busi-
ness’s Midwood restaurant for
owing $167,506 in unpaid
taxes. The shutdown didn’t af-
fect Di Fara’s newer location
in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg
neighborhood.
The mayor’s office said it
has been in touch with Di
Fara’s owners to see how the
city can help, although the
back taxes aren’t a city issue.
Speaking at the Great New
York State Fair on Wednesday,
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Mr. de

BYKATIEHONAN
ANDCHARLESPASSY

Mayor Offers to Help Iconic Pizzeria

Di Fara’s Midwood store was closed for not paying $167,506 in taxes.

KEVIN HAGEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Kizzy Adonis

will lose 20

vacation days

for lapses in

oversight

during the 2014

confrontation.

NY