The funeral for FDNY firefighter Steven H. Pollard is taking place in Marine Park on Friday morning. Pollard was tragically killed on Sunday night, after he fell off a bridge while working at the scene of a car accident in Brooklyn.
The NYPD has started towing vehicle on Thursday night, as they prepare for 20,000 people to attend the funeral which will take place at 11:30AM Friday at Good Shepherd Church, 1950 Batchelder Street. FDNY Commissioner Nigro and Mayor Delasio are scheduled to give eulogies, along with other speakers, according to the FDNY.
Residents in Flatbush and Marine Park should be aware of the following submitted to YWN by the Commanding Officer of the NYPD 61 precinct, Deputy Inspector James King:
Due to the funeral for Firefighter Pollard on Friday, January 11th; Street closures will be in effect from 8:00AM to 3:00PM. The following streets are affected:
* Avenue S from Gerritsen Avenue to Coney Island Avenue
* Batchelder Street from Gerritsen Avenue to Avenue T
* Brown Street from Gerritsen Avenue to Avenue T
* Nostrand Avenue from Avenue S to Avenue Y
Be advised that any vehicle parked along those routes will be towed starting Thursday, January 10th at 8PM and relocated to another location. If your car gets towed, you can ask a police officer where it was towed to or call the 61st Precinct at 718-627-6611.
As YWN had reported, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Ladder Company 170 in Brooklyn was called to a two-car accident with injuries on the Belt Parkway, near the old Mill Basin Drawbridge located just east of Flatbush, on Sunday at 10 p.m.
As the firefighters were going to help the victims, Pollard slipped through a gap in the roadway and fell approximately 52 feet to the ground below. He was pronounced dead at a Kings County Hospital.
EDITORS NOTE: We are aware of people on social media taking aim at YWN for calling this a “traffic nightmare”, claiming it is disrespectful to the family and the FDNY. While YWN joins the city and the FDNY in mourning this hero who died tragically, our readers should be aware of the reality that is set to unfold on a short Erev Shabbos – a traffic nightmare. YWN sends our condolences to the family of this hero, and may G-d bless the men and women of law enforcement and emergency personnel that keep the citizens of NYC safe.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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15 Responses
Headline is very insensitive and disrespectful to the deceased firefighter and his family. Please reword.
This headline, and the defense of it by the editor, are an absolute shame and chilul Hashem. There is no loss to being respectful in how you characterize the traffic situation. The word “nightmare” is not needed
Surely “Serious traffic disruption” would be a better way of putting it. Says the same thing in reality without appearing to be offensive.
Why cant you change the headline instead of defending it?
You know what’s a real nightmare? Having a family member go to work one day and never come home again.
“Traffic Alert” would’ve been just fine.
What a stupid headline and an even more childish defense: you know you could’ve conveyed the same message by writing “expect heavy
traffic…” or “road closures in effect”, without using the word ‘nightmare’.
You would’ve never written a headline like that If it was a levaya for one of us c”v.
It takes courage to admit a mistake and change. I think you should man up and do that before the mainstream press gets wind of this- it’ll be a massive Chilul Hashem on your head.
I live in the immediate area and will be directly affected by this funeral. I mourn his death and I will likely attend and stand on the route to pay my respects. But I see nothign wrong with calling this a traffic nightmare. The article calls the man a hero. Get a grip.
everyone is an editor nowadays
grow up
It’s amazing. A lady could give birth to quads and ywn will report it and people complain. A man could donate 20 billion dollars to tzedaka and ywn will report it and people have problems. No matter what ywn posts there are such childish people in the comments sections. Did any of you two year old send flowers to the chapel? anyone donate money to the family fund for this firefighter? (i did). Have any of you baked a cake or cookies and handed them out in Marine Park the past week? (I did, along with my children – Oh and we met the editors of ywn at the wake making a kiddush hashem. But I will let them publish what they were doing there if they are interested.)
Did any of you two year old send flowers to the chapel? anyone donate money to the family fund for this firefighter? (i did). Have any of you baked a cake or cookies and handed them out in Marine Park the past week? (I did, along with my children – Oh and we met the editors of ywn at the wake making a kiddush hashem.
All this is a wonderful kiddush Hashem,and it’s truly beautiful, but it doesn’t change the fact that the headline is a chilul Hashem. Especially considering that probably hundreds of thousands (maybe millions?) of people see these headlines.
Use of language and differnet words have slightly differnet meanings. English is more expressive than jewish languages because it has more words. One should always be careful how you express yourself in English especially in print
YWN would have been very well advised to use a different approach to this story. Instead of crying about the inconvenience before Shabbos, YWN should decry the lights BEING TURNED OFF AT NIGHT on the Belt Parkway to save money. That might have been a factor in this tragedy.
I can understand the sensitivity of some readers but YWN was just implying what the correct adjective was to the reality that was going to be.
I just sat in 67 minutes of traffic (Not one minute of exaggeration!) after getting off Ocean Parkway and getting trapped in the closures. I had not known about this funeral scheduled. There were blocks and blocks and Avenues and Avenues of standstill vehicles. I saw many; Jews and Gentiles alike, just parking at anywhere they could find including pumps and walking to their destinations; some with luggage in hand. I am sure they will likely be returning to retrieve their vehicles in several hours. It was indeed a “nightmare” situation!
And yes, of course we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We were extremely saddened by the unfortunate death of this FDNY firefighter. Our deepest condolences to the family of this hero!!
Someone wrote: You would’ve never written a headline like that If it was a levaya for one of us c”v.
I think he is right
If it was a gadol they would have not used such wording.
The editor is clearly in the wrong.