Two teenagers arrested for Queens park attacks

(New York-WABC, Jan 5, 2007) (WABC) -- Two 17-year-old men were arrested and charged with four brutal muggings, as well as in the murder of a man discovered at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

The men are identified as Belter Yovanni Gubara Rivera, otherwise known as "Nyquil," and Marcos Polanco.

One suspect was nabbed after police say he used a credit card belonging to one of his victims to purchase gasoline he used to torch another victim's car.

That man was taken into custody days ago, and questioning by detectives lead them to the second suspect, who was captured Thursday night.

The men are being held at the 110th Precinct in the Elmhurst section of Queens.

"Our detectives did an outstanding job. They had just the right prescription to capture 'Nyquil' and to return a sense of security to Flushing Meadow Park," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The spree targeted at least nine joggers and bicyclists in the Queens park between November 22 and Christmas.

The victims' ages ranged from 38 to 62. All but one of the victims were assaulted.

Most of the robberies occurred near 111th Street between 46th and 52nd avenues, always under the cover of darkness.

The suspects were also linked to the murder of a man discovered dead, floating in the park's pond on Dec. 5. He was slashed across the chest several times and had other trauma to the body.

The latest victim, attacked on Christmas Day, was critically injured as he rode near the park's main landmark, the Unisphere. He was identified as Je Wu Park after his photo was released to the media in an appeal for public help.

Police say following his brutal beating, the suspects stole his car and set it on fire. While setting it on fire, the suspect badly burned himself. When he was taken into custody by detectives, they had to hospitalize him for treatment of the burns.

Detectives found Park while searching for torched cars. When they found his, they ran the vehicle identification number, and arrived at his house at the same time family members were looking for him.

The attacks frightened park goers and crystallized public concerns about safety.

In response, the NYPD beefed up patrols in the park -- placing extra lighting, a command center and even deploying Sky Watch, a mobile observation tower staffed 24-hours-a-day.

The muggings are also the first test of the city's new Parkstat program, which was designed to track events like those in Flushing Meadows to help police understand crime patterns and educate the public.

Flushing Meadows is ranked second in criminal complaints out of the 20 City parks included in the program, according to the first and most recent statistics.

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