Good news on the crime front

Did anyone else read the Errol Louis column in yesterday's Daily News? The indictment of the alleged killer of Benny Lyde is a major breakthrough and a tribute to the power of good detective work and community outreach. Congrats to all!

It's never too late for justice
Sunday, March 9th 2008, 4:00 AM

The community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where I live, scored an important victory in the battle against violent crime with this week's arrest of Cody Nelson for allegedly murdering an honor student named Benny Lyde in front of Lyde's home in 2005.

It took more than two years of community meetings and a wide-ranging investigation that had cops chasing leads in Missouri and Minnesota - and in the end, the trail led to Nelson, a soldier who was already in jail on assault charges upstate, in Fort Drum.

That should send a message to the murderers and miscreants who think they own the streets: In Central Brooklyn, an organized and united neighborhood is going to find you, fight you and stop you, no matter how long the effort takes.

Lyde was a senior at Long Island University, where I teach in the journalism department. I did not know him personally, but I have friends and neighbors who did - and all of them say he was one of the great ones, a young man who volunteered with AmeriCorps, taught reading to neighborhood kids and helped organize a neighborhood dance group.

We won't know the full story behind Lyde's murder until the case goes to court, but details are beginning to fall in place. Apparently, one of the youngsters Lyde worked with got into a fight with a group of toughs, who may have retaliated by executing Lyde.

The neighborhood was shocked by the killing. More than 600 people attended Lyde's funeral, and a reward fund for information about the murder swelled to more than $22,000. Most importantly of all, neighborhood leaders vowed to step up the fight against violent street crime.

Less than seven months after Lyde died, a high-school honor student named Chanel Petro-Nixon vanished. Her body was found in a garbage bag on Kingston Ave., only a few blocks from where Lyde was killed.

We responded to that tragedy with more community meetings, including some heated exchanges with law enforcement officials. To their credit, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes took a personal interest in the lawlessness, shutting down crackhouses and putting extra cops on foot patrol in the area as part of Operation Impact.

Special thanks go to the 77th Precinct, which made the unsolved murders of young people in our community a priority. Posters of the kids were prominently posted in the precinct house, and cops from the 7-7 have played a series of basketball games to raise money for Chanel's reward fund, which is now more than $30,000.

All that goodwill hasn't solved the murder yet.

But now the precinct's detective squad, which arrested Lyde's alleged killer, might have new clues to Chanel's killing - from an unlikely place.

Shortly after the murder, talk on the street - and at least one newspaper article - suggested that Chanel may have been killed as retaliation in a dispute between drug dealers and Chanel's older brother, 23-year-old Giovanni Petro.

Cops ruled out that theory, believing Petro may have been on the fringes of the drug trade but not involved in anything serious enough to put anybody's life in danger.

That line of thinking may need to be revisited. According to a televised report, Petro was recently arrested with two other New York men in Charlottesville, Va., where a drug enforcement task force busted the trio in a hotel room with $14,000 in cash and 210 grams of crack cocaine, valued at $40,000.

That's a shattering turn of events for a family already coping with tragedy. But it's also an opportunity to find out if Chanel's death, like Lyde's, was an act of bloody revenge in a fight between criminals.

Tomorrow night, the community precinct council will formally recognize and thank Detectives Robert Carboine, Bobby Rivera and Patrick Coward for solving the Lyde case.

And out on the streets, the battle for our neighborhood will continue.

[email protected]

Discuss this Article
3 comments so far. Add your comment below!. [Discussion Guidelines]

To post comments, REGISTER or LOG IN


imho Mar 9, 2008 12:13:44 PM Report Offensive Post
Congrats to Mr. Louis and his neighborhood for taking back their streets. The police are essential but the support from block associations acting as the ears and eyes for the police makes a huge difference. Readers should also take note how the community had to put pressure on the police to act where they might otherwise treated this less seriously. Other communities under siege need to take note that organized blocks are effective in fighting crime.

glasstique1948 Mar 9, 2008 12:21:00 PM Report Offensive Post
Congratulations to all . This is the ideal interaction between the Polce and the residents of a neighborhood which they share. This should be the model for all community policing . Now on to the next cleanup and let this cooperation between the Police and residents continue.

Laga Mar 9, 2008 1:37:17 PM Report Offensive Post
""""""""""""""''''''''''''''Shortly after the murder, talk on the street - and at least one newspaper article - suggested that Chanel may have been killed as retaliation in a dispute between drug dealers and Chanel's older brother, 23-year-old Giovanni Petro. Cops ruled out that theory, believing Petro may have been on the fringes of the drug trade but not involved in anything serious enough to put anybody's life in danger.""""""""""''''''''' Cops wrong again. The police think their "hunches" are what solve cases. Instead of listening to the people who have better "''hunches" than they do, they operate on some kind of formula, like, she must have run away with her boyfriend. When are detectives going to get some training in how to solve crimes?


Click Here to see all comments or to Report Abuse