You are reading

Police Arrest 23-Year-Old Woman for Smashing Statues Outside Forest Hills Church

Statues destroyed outside Our Lady of Mercy (Diocese of Brooklyn)

Sept. 13, 2021 By Allie Griffin

A 23-year-old woman is facing hate crime charges after she was arrested Friday for smashing two statues outside a Forest Hills Catholic Church in July.

Officers cuffed local resident Jacqueline Nikiena on charges of criminal mischief as a hate crime and aggravated harassment Friday.

Nikiena was caught on camera destroying two statues — one of the Blessed Mother and one of St. Therese the Little Flower — outside Our Lady of Mercy parish in the early morning hours on July 17, according to police.

Surveillance video shows her topple the statues — which have stood outside the church, located at 70-1 Kessel St., since it opened in the 1930s. She then dragged the statues into the street and repeatedly smashed them.

The statues, which were more than 80 years old, were left in pieces.

“Both of these statues have stood in front of the church since it was built [in 1937],” Father Frank Schwarz, the pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, said at the time. “It is heartbreaking, but sadly it is becoming more and more common these days.”

A GoFundMe launched to raise money to replace the statues has brought in more than $25,000.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

NY Hall of Science debuts CityWorks, its largest exhibition in over a decade

The New York Hall of Science in Corona opened its largest interactive exhibition in more than a decade on Saturday, May 3. The exhibition explores the often invisible inner workings of the built urban environment.

CityWorks is housed in a 6,000 square foot gallery, and the exhibit was created by a team of NYCSI exhibit developers, researchers, and educators over the past five years. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the intricate systems and engineering that enable cities to function, including how they break, evolve, and endure.

Twenty people indicted in Queens-based $4.6M vehicle theft ring after three-year probe: DA

Twenty individuals were indicted and variously charged in a wide-ranging scheme to steal cars in Queens, throughout New York City and its suburbs, following a three-year investigation by the Queens District Attorney’s Office, the NYPD, and the New York State Police dubbed “Operation Hellcat,” into the criminal enterprise based in Queens.

Some of the vehicles were stolen from owners’ driveways, some with the keys or key fobs inside. The stolen vehicles were often sold through advertisements on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. The defendants are charged in nine separate indictments for a total of 373 counts, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Thursday.