Sunday night we found a witness that was present when Markey was picked up by an ambulance . We will call this witness , known to this writer as G . G also made the call to 911 to get medical care for Markey and another passed out Russian individual known as Igor . G felt that Igor was in worse condition than Markey , thus when Markey was actually taken away it was mistakenly assumed that he was Russian. Because of this there was some considerable confusion that made it much more difficult to correctly identify Markey . Markey was taken in at Beth Israel hospital as a "John Doe" . What follows is G's recounting of Markey's last afternoon on 7th street and his removal to Beth Israel Hospital by ambulance .
G , a friend and drinking buddy of Markey, was walking west on 7th street near 226 east 7th street with another drinking buddy when he noticed Markey . G and his associate had been to the "Cobra" store . This store, just a short distance away at the corner of 7th street and avenue C, has the best prices on the cheapest of malt liquors — King Cobra Malt Liquor . Cobra is the favorite of many, including Markey . Many of Markey's friends walk this stretch of 7th street to and from this store all day long .
It was the hottest day of the year , the temperature was well beyond 100 degrees . G noticed that Markey , surrounded by numerous empty Cobra cans , was motionless and that a white froth was seeping past his parted lips. On this hot afternoon Markey was supine and motionless where the man , probably Igor , is seen in the picture below , not where Markey's little memorial is seen today . G nudged his leg and Markey mumbled a bit . Having no cell phone, G asked a man from the church across the street to call for an ambulance because he feared that both Igor and Markey were in trouble , drunken sick in the heat on this hottest of days . Assuming that the ambulance would arrive G went on his way .
30 minutes later G again passed by Markey who, when he again nudged him, was utterly unresponsive . No call had been made . G found a phone and made a call to 911 himself and the ambulance arrived in 4 or 5 minutes . The medical technicians worked on Markey at the scene for a long time and then took him to Beth Israel . G insisted that they take his possessions . The ambulance crew refused to take Markey's possessions with him to the hospital . Markey's possessions amounted to a backpack with his few personal effects including, most importantly, his writings . These possessions were fortunately all gathered together and taken by a friend who happened by chance to walk by .
Nothing that G witnessed at the scene indicated to him that Markey had been beaten or in anyway abused by anyone . G's conclusion is consistent with that of Markey's family , NYPD and the attending doctors at Beth Israel . Markey died of a head injury received when he fell and struck his head earlier that hottest of days this July of 2010 .
Markey's family also passed along the link to an online guest book for friends to sign.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Markey Hayden Bena, 1956-2010
24 comments:
"...that hottest of days". WTF with the fairytale lingo.
Ken Mac - Are you kidding? Sad, beautiful, tragic? Get real and come back down to earth - what's so beautiful about drinking yourself to death at the ripe old age of 54 years old? It's pathetic and unnecessary, is what it is.
No, Ken, I read your post, and ask again - what's so beautiful about dying on a hot sidewalk, foaming at the mouth? Show me the beauty in that and I'll admit I was wrong, but to romanticize this guy's end is silly. Death is rarely beautiful. Sad and tragic yes, I don't dispute that. But there's no beauty in the light and life and spirit going out of someone's eyes as they pass from this world, especially in circumstances like the ones Markey left us in.
Nothing beautiful intended here .What had been said previous to this post explaining that there was no violent act responsible for Markey's death should have been enough . It wasn't .
What is posted here was posted to make it clear that Markey wasn't beaten to death as so many in the neighborhood seemed to want to believe .There are multiple witnesses to what is recounted here in this post . EVGrieve and I simply wanted to make it clear that violence was not a part of Markey's death .We do not need angry misguided individuals doing some crazy kind of payback that could lead to something worse in this already tense , troubled neighborhood .
The witness' identity is obscurred to protect him from possible trouble in the neighborhood from some that might want to continue to believe that he is supporting a cover-up by authorities .
Even if Markey had been beaten he would never have approved of a payback . That was Markey .
...and yes it was the hottest of days . This day last week was the hottest day of the year so far and it likely contributed to Markey's difficulties on this day .
Bob Arihood
Oh yeah it's so "tense and troubled". All these suburban cuntbags waiting an hour in line to eat at fucking 7A really shows how tense and troubled it is. Or maybe how sad and tragic it is.
anonymous posters full of piss and vinegar, on the attack. Geesh, is there no end.
so sad, so sad.
i'll miss markey's conversation and company.
ugh.
He was a light on the street...a philosopher comic, quick wit, and charm. If you didn't know him you should back off. Many residents of this block of 7th street are very saddened by this death. Whatever judgements anyone has on Markey, especially if you didn't know him, yes he often had his drink on but always had a smart conversation and a friendliness not oft seen, and he will be sorely missed by this neighbor.
Markey was a free spirit and always had something nice to say. I can still hear him say "yeah Darlin".
Bob, very nice work. I respect you for it. However, "What had been said previous to this post explaining that there was no violent act responsible for Markey's death should have been enough . It wasn't."
So without any vetting or citing you expect that readers should accept that you are the the be all and end all of this story? Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, there are things you don't know? Maybe beatings you don't know about because you didn't run into him that week? Who said he fell on his head? Who saw him fall on his head? And so on. Don't take umbrage with questions when all you brought to the party was unnamed sources, particularly in other "homies."
Devil's Advocate "Strictly Business Baby Strictly Business"
P.S. Where IS your "complete profile?"
Though the witness is un-named there is an easy path to the witness and as a matter of fact to a few others too . Anyone that wants to realy look into this I will be happy to assist if they so desire .
Communications with those speaking for the family have recounted claims that do not contradict what the witness recounted . For instance the facts that that Markey did not appear to have been beaten and the problem identifying him because he was assumed to be Russian were recounted by both the witness and the families accounts.
According to Markey's family the doctor also claimed that he was not beaten . The doctors according to the family stated That the injury to Markey's head was delivered by a fall .
These are the available facts . The rest is hear say .I do not claim that it is not plausible that something else happend earlier but there is no fact to support such a claim .No witness that I could find has claimed such.I spent 3 days in the street and in the park looking for such a witness .In fact I am still looking for such a witness , if they exist .
All day long TSP drinkers trundle back and forth along that stretch of 7th street to and from the "Cobra" store for thier Cobies .There were a lot of eyes likely present regularly on that street that knew Markey to see something happening to him if in deed something other than a fall did happened .
This post was placed on EVGrieve to make everyone think about what is known to have happened and make a distinction between what fact supports and what might have happened with the hope that it might prevent some angy folks from making a pay-back .Some were talking of doing so . Targets for payback it seems had already been selected by these folks.
I am certainly not the end all and be all on anything here .Last week no one was doing much of anything to find what had happened to Markey .I attempted to find some fact .I've simply attempted to put what is known out in the public's view . Any one that knows more please tell me all about it , tell the authorities . . I'm sure that Grieve would like to know more too .If there are witnesses out, there speak up .We all would like to know "for sure" what really happened to Markey.As it stands now though what is posted above is all that I know of that has been presented that is supported by witness , family and expert medical testimony .
Thanks for gathering the info Bob.
I am an old friend of Markey, as sad as I am about what has happened I am glad to hear that the spark that I knew remained with him until the end. Thanks for the people with the good memories. Dude was awesome. And I want to kick his ass for not being around any more.
Bob, If you are contactable I sure can't find the path. Initially I was going to contact you pass on some kudos. If I did now it would be as a source. But not to worry, it appears the most vocal of people want to believe what they want to believe.
One Love
To "One Love", If you want to contact me , contact me by way of the contact at EVGrieve on this site .Grieve and I communicate frequently concerning Markey . One of us will then contact you if there is a need to discuss any matters pertaining to Markey . .
Bob Arihood
You may send me an e-mail if you'd like, One Love... I'm in contact with Bob, as he said.
grieve98@gmail.com
Thanks.
Bob, you are a very good writer and you clearly care. And thank you for the photos you took and shared.
I forget this is a blog. And, yes, I take umbrage with uncited sources and all that. I mean I can go to FOX or CNN then. You get to be the bad guy only because Markey is something/ someone I cared about. Crappy, yes crappy, reporting really incited this increased and determined care.
e.g. Dr. so-and-so, a ______ at BI __________. Markeys' aunt _________ confirmed _________.
You just shouldn't do "NEWS" like that. Others may not have noticed. I noticed.
I'm tired and spent. I hail from the EV from before you were born; most likely. Back when Dojo was 8' wide and sold 60 cent soyburgers.
All I'm saying is if you can't quote and name sources then you are no better than a local gossip, even if your heart is deeply in it and you've spent 150 hours in the heat.
It's okay if you don't like me and if your feelings are hurt. I like to think maybe I taught you something which is why I'm bothering, hopelessly maternal me.
I ain't selling anything here.
Babbling now. Tired. Human.
And done.
Thank you.
I'm letting this go now.
The witness ,G, above is Giovanni Perticaro .I have no address for hiim because he does not have one .
I appreciate every effort at writing about Markey. Style is irrelevant. If Mr. Arihood is using a journalistic model, so be it.
Is not what we are making effort at the understanding of a perplexing loss. OUR loss.
As written, Markey lived on the Cobra Trail and potentially if there was a violent incident someone would have seen it while seeking a Cob. Or a neighbor could have heard something then checked out the window. No one, except G, appears to make such a claim of witness.
I have spent hours trying to visualize what happened. I wanted to believe that it was something other than an accident sos I could say it wasn't an accident. I knew Markey quite well. He typically did not fall down. He wasn't that kind of drinker. I can visualize this, however - Markey was in a lot of beer, on a very, very hot day and he reared back in a kind of a nod, you know, his head falling back, or even dropping back from his waist and he hit his head on a wall on the curb of the raised sidewalk, or even the wall that his memorial has been moved to. While Markey typically didn't fall down, Markey often slept on 7th St and no one would be very surprised too see him laying supine on the street.
Markey was quick to bleed, his vascular system was weak. No one would notice something amiss, as he was bleeding internally. Oh misery, no one could have helped as there was no indication of problem except what G saw, the white froth at the mouth and that was only witnessed without panic. It just looked like Markey was sleeping on the street again, Not dying....Obviously when the EMT arrived there were no vitals. Too late.
Significant is the notion to stay sane about this so nothing retaliatory happens. It's been a while since Markey's death.Seems all is well, tho I am still, will always be saddened. So sad.
I came back to read this in some effort at solace of passing this season without markey making concoctions of beer and tomato juice or champagne and whatever...we would watch father of the bride and I would wonder as to how his g'mas waist was so tiny.
I wanted to clear up one very important, to me, detail.
I am hoping that whomever reads these posts and knows Jessica Hall will pass this information along to her.
It was stated by Arihood that the backpack not taken by the EMTs contained Markey's writings.
Yes the backpack held a yellow legal pad that had a paragraph and another page with his dream team baseball diagram. These were not Makey's compilation of writings. I would suggest that the last porfolio he had was either at the res or he had lost them. Markey lost backpacks like I loose hair.
Knowing Markey as I did, I am certain that the writings in the backack claimed by a person who knew him and she held onto them for his family were only a very small aspect of his writings.
Jessica Hall was concerned about that, as she had believed that his writing were meant to be published as a part of the missive she put together on the occasion of Markey's death. Tho, she also claimed that she would publish my writings but never contacted me to further the process. And she also communicated to the eastvillage that myself and my children ate the classroom pet - the bunny. It made my kids feel real good.
So, I didn't steal the writings - they were lost or discarded.
And The Parker kids didn't eat hippity hop.
meghan
Honourable bye, considerate friend :)
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