By Luis Perez and Rocco Parascandola
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
A four-alarm row house blaze that killed the patriarch of a Queens family and left his daughter-in-law in critical condition is being investigated as arson, possibly set off by a tenant-landlord dispute, authorities and family members said yesterday.
James Crocker, 83, was killed despite the efforts of his son-in-law, who relatives said tried to save Crocker as he hung from a second-story window at 103-17 169th St. in Jamaica just before midnight Tuesday.
Crocker’s daughter-in-law, Alexandria Robinson, 46, was able to leap from the second floor to a grassy yard below, according to family members and authorities. But she was severely burned and was listed in serious condition yesterday in New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, they said.
The fire, which officials believe was intentionally set at the house next door, 103-15 169th St., affected five turn-of-the-century wood-frame houses, leaving dozens of others homeless, officials and residents said.
“The flames were going really high,” said Joann Mitchell, a niece of Crocker’s who lives nearby.
According to police investigators and the city fire marshal, several tenants of 103-15 had been arguing with their landlord. Authorities were investigating whether two small fires were set in the first floor of that building.
Witnesses reported to investigators that a female tenant was seen leaving the building shortly before the fires erupted about 11 p.m.
No arrests had been made.
The blaze raged for three hours, and nine firefighters received minor injuries, officials said. It left both 103-15 and 103-17 little more than burned-out shells that will have to be torn down, fire officials on the scene said.
According to authorities and neighbors on the block, police had been called to 103-15 several times recently to break up disputes.
“They were arguing about her leaving,” Mitchell said, referring to a female tenant of 103-15. “The landlord wanted her out. He wanted to sell the place.”
Mitchell said her relatives living in 103-17 were aware of the dispute next door.
The owner of 103-15 could not be reached for comment. Calls to a number posted on a “For Sale” sign in front of the house were not returned.
Several families lived in the three other attached houses, near Liberty Avenue, which had mainly smoke and water damage. Some of those residents milled about on the street yesterday as authorities removed blackened planks of wood as evidence.
“We were ready to go to bed, and then we had to flee,” recalled Farid Bhuiyan, 38, a computer consultant who came to New York from Bangladesh with his family nine years ago. “It was like heaven and hell, played out in 15 minutes.”
Neighbors remembered Crocker as a widower who retired as a civilian employee of the city Police Department. He was like the mayor of 169th Street, they said. They called him “Poppa.”
Crocker recently suffered a stroke, which made walking difficult, relatives said.
“He was everybody’s dad,” said Tranay Lord, a niece. “He went with all of our memories in that house.”