Couple harassed by fake 911 calls
Couple is repeat victim of 911 prank calls, have answered door to inquiring cops, fire department over 150 times. In the midst of celebrating a recent Islamic holiday, an upper Manhattan couple heard a familiar knock at the door.new york city manhattan
It was the police — again.
For nearly two years, Mamadou and Assetou Sy have been the targets of an orchestrated campaign of more than 150 false emergency calls to their door at the Dyckman Houses in Inwood.
All of the calls — some came in the middle of the night — were bogus. Fake injuries, fake fires and fake reports of gunfire.
“Every time someone knocks on our door, we say it must be the police,” groaned Assetou Sy, 52. “And most of the time, it is them.”
The couple doesn’t believe they’re being targeted because of their religion, even though last Sunday police arrived as they celebrated Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice. It marks the end of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
In recent months, emergency responders have repeatedly shown up to the Sys’ home — sometimes twice in a day.
“We cannot understand how this could be happening,” said Sy’s husband, Mamadou, 57. “How can people play around with the Fire Department and the police like this?”
The Daily News obtained a list of fire calls from 2010 that shows more than 100 calls for medical assistance, stove fires and other incidents — none of them legitimate. Since April, police have logged more than 55 similar calls.
Earlier this month, police played for the couple an audio tape of some of the 911 calls, but they couldn’t identify the caller.
“We are American citizens and taxpayers like everyone else,” Assetou Sy said. “We don’t need this.”
Originally from Mali, the Sys have lived at the Dyckman Houses for 17 years and said they never had any problems.
Assetou Sy runs the Malian Cultural Center in the Bronx where she teaches West African traditions to local youths from immigrant families. Her husband assists her.
The first time firefighters showed up to their home, the Sys thought it was a fluke.
“Someone had called about a fire,” Mamadou Sy said of the incident in January 2010. “They came inside. They check everything. When they found nothing, then they left.”
Fire officials confirmed the repeated FDNY responses to the fake emergencies and then slammed the caller for endangering lives.
“False alarms draw units and resources from actual emergency calls and put the lives of those responding needlessly at risk,” said Frank Dwyer, an FDNY spokesman.
Police officials agreed, but said they’ll continue responding each time someone calls.
“We can never not go,” said NYPD Deputy Inspector Kim Royster. “We will always go.”
The Inwood address has been flagged by police, meaning a supervisor is dispatched along with patrol.
The Sys complained to elected officials and the city Housing Authority about the harassment. But they balked at an emergency transfer after learning they could end up anywhere in the five boroughs.
In a statement, NYCHA officials said that residents seeking to move expeditiously within public housing must be flexible, because more than 8,000 residents are awaiting transfers and 144,000 people are waiting for apartments.
The Sys said they shouldn’t have to move.
“This is my home,” a defiant Mamadou Sy said. “We have a lot of memories here. We are not going anywhere.”
