-The Long-Isiander • Huntington, New York • 'niiirsday, April II, 1965 Page-3-
Police Find No Evidence of
Foul Play in Park Drowning
By STEVE NEVEROSKI
Apress conference was held last Thursday morning a t the
SuffdlkCountyM edicalExaininer^officetoaddr^accusatlonsbythe family ofBryanZapata.w bodied in anincidenC
a t Heckscher Park on March 29, th at the youth was beaten
by Ihwn of Huntington security personnel before his death.
According to Dr. Charles Hiisch, chief medical examiner,
the findings of the postmortem investigation indicate that
“B ryanZapata's death resulted from d iw n in g , and he was
unequivocally under the influence of alcohol a t the time of
death. No physical injury contributed to his death." Dr.
Hiisch s ta t ^ that B ry an t injuries did “not resemble wounds
inflicted by beating."
Lt. R obert D unn, com m ander of the Suffolk County
Homicide Squad, provided this account of th e events of
March 29:
Tbward the park's closing tim e of 11 pm, a Ibw n of Hun­
tington security vehicle approached “a number of youths"
in and around the p ark ’s bandsheil. Upon seeing the vehicle
the youths dispersed in ail directions. The security officer
drove up to the bandsheil and observed a number of beer bot­
tles and cans in thearea. Seeing no more youths he continued
his patrol. A n o tb ersecu rity v ^ cleen tered th ep ark a t this
tim e and proceeded to d riv e tow ard a fieid n e a r the
bandsheil.
The youths returned, accordii^ to Lt. Dunn, "as they oc­
casionally do, it is kind of a cat and mouse game, and then
left (he park on on& two or three occasions.”
As the first security officer continued to patrol the area,
according to Dunne, he observed a boy, B ryan Z a[»ta, in
some h e d ^ . At (hat point Zapata, presumably seeing one
of the security vehicles, “ra n th ro u ^ the park, through the
hedge, over Uk benches, past thesw inpandexitedthatportion of the park.”
Hethen randown a pethtoward the second security vehi­
cle, passed the vehicle, ra n onto a small dock and jumped
into Heckscher Pond, according to the police report.
The first security officer, bearing Chesplash, left his vehi­
cle and called for the boy to come out of the water. He was
reporte^y answered by Bryan Zapata w ith a stream of
obscenities.
Zapata then swam tnwarda small island in the pond, away
from the officers. The second security officer a t (hat point
went over to the dock with a rope and buoy apparatus and
threw it into the w ater a n u m b ^ of times. H ie first officer
rolled-up his pants, entered the water, which w asa very cold
M -5Sdegr^, and started toward the bqy, calhng a t all times
for him to come out of the water, according to Dunn.
As the officer waded toward 1 ^ , Zapata went onto the
Island. When a third security vehicle arrived and directed
his lights onto the island, Zapata a p in jumped into the water
and swam away from the officers, who were still calling to
him and Zapata replying ‘in a negative way."
Theuewly arrived officer then to^anotherropeandbuiQ',
tied the rope toatreeandw adedout toward the boy who was
(reading water. At this point there were two officers in (he
w ater and one throwing a bu<^.
Shortly thereafter, a Suffolk County police officer arriv­
ed and directed the security officers to comeout of the water
because their legs were b u r n in g numb, said Dunn.
The fire departm ent had
this tim e been called and
directed lobring to the scene a ra ft or boat. While trying to
monitor uieboy'sactivUies,officeisrep<mtecUy lost sightof
him.
Threeor four minutes later the Huntington Rescue Squad
a r r i v ^ with a boat and began searching the area. Two
firemen also entered the w ater and began to swim in the
direction of the b ^ , aU to no avail, according to the report.
Lt. Dunn, responding to questions concerning the secur­
ity officers’actions stated, “Ills my opiniooandtheofrinion
of those who worked on the case that t h ^ behaved adm ir­
YOUNGSTERS AT THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE HELP of ReU rded Children in Commack, a re riding in style on new
tricycles, thanks to the efforts of AT&T Communications em ploye^ a t the H untinpon Operator Services office. During
the p a st year 250 AT£T Communications employees held several in-office fund-raising events, such a s cake and Dower
sales, which netted enough m o n ^ to buy three specially designed tricycles to be used by the children who attend school
a t the Association.
ably. They were not trained swimmers, ooecouldn’t even
swim a t all, b ut they both w ent into th e water. One ofDcer
did not enter the pond but continued to tiirow the buoy." When
asked to idenU y the officers Lt. Dunn declined, feeling that
they w ere already traum a Used by the event and w ere being
“m aligned" by accusations that they had beaten the boy.
According to Dr. Hirsrii, the total tim e from when Zapata
entered the w ater to when he la st submerged was approx­
imately 15 minutes, between 10;SS a n d 11:10 pm, adding,
however, th a t it will probably be impossible to “n ail down
precisely" the tim e intervals involv^.
StaiM Lt. Dunn, "I believe th at in (his particular instance
there have been an awful lot of histrionics and Ibelieve they
em anate from people who a re deeply grieved."
Bryan Zapata's d ^ th was ‘^nunfortuiiBte (lagedy," stated
Huntington SuperinsorJohnO’N eil.“lfeel for the family in
their hours of grief."
M r O'Neil also stated th a t be felt th a t the conclusions
reacdied by the County M edical Exam iner and the Suffolk
Countyfkilice‘Veretbeonly conclusions thatcould be reach­
ed and support our own internal investigation."
Mr. a n d Mrs. Zapata, who w ere present a t the press con­
ference, didnot agree with them edical examiner and police
reports. Said Mr. Zapata, “I don’t agree with whatever was
said here a t all.”
The Zapatak accusa tions a re based m ainly on evidence
provid^tw aprivatelyhiredcoroner, evidence thatw as con­
tradicted by Dr. Hirseb.
An attorney for the Zapatas stated that h e is in the pro­
cess ofinvestigaUng the incident and will determinea course
of action a t the conclusion of that investigation.
South Huntington School Board
Considers Increased Budget Plan
A proposed $44,233,901 budget for the 1985-86 school year
willgob^oreSouthHuntingtonschool district voters on May
8
.
The budget, approved by the Board of Education a t its
March 20meeting, bears a n anticipated tax rate of$52. ISper
$100of assessed valuation, a n increase of 6 per cent over the
current ra te of $W.19.
The proposed bucket is 7.8 per cent higher than the cur­
rent $41,006,901 budget and would mean an increaseof $116.27
for the average home assessed a t $4,000, adm inistrators
noted.
Two additional resolutions will also be placed before the
voters. Resolution «2 asks that $150,000 be authorized out of
funds on hand to purchase six new school buses. State
transportation aid is expected on the purchase,
Resolution <>3wouldauthorize thedistrict (ospend a total
of not m ore than $550,000 from the Cajnial Reserve Fund
from the sale of Central School lor various projects.
Included a t Walt Whitman High School a re replacem ent
windows inthesouthw ing, renovation of ascience room and
boys’ locker room , boiler retubing, re p la c e m e n t of
auditorium sound system and curtains, and pavement,
sidewalk and track reconstruction.
At Stimson Junior High the projects a re to install m an­
dated fire doors and replace classroom c arp etii^ . State
WALSDORF'S INSURANCE CORNER
By D avid & Louis W alsdorf
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