Charges against the Yonkers contractor who allegedly accidentally set fire to an Elmhurst apartment building last April, displacing 175 residents and injuring 11 firefighters, have been dropped.
According to court records provided by his attorney, Declan Mcelhatton will no longer face a fourth-degree arson and second-degree reckless endangerment rap after Assistant District Attorney Charissa Ilardi moved in court last Tuesday for the case to be dismissed.
“While we do believe there was probable cause for the fire marshals to make the arrest,” Illardi said, according to court records, “at this time we do not believe we are able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Mcelhatton, 53, was arrested two days after a fire broke out at 56-11 94 St., two blocks north of the Queens Center mall, on April 11.
The five-alarm blaze damaged or destroyed 112 apartments, forcing the American Red Cross to temporarily convert nearby PS 13 into a shelter for displaced families.
According to the original criminal complaint against him, McElhatton was contracted to work on the building’s roof. The roofing materials he allegedly tried to apply were not supposed to be subjected to heat, and his alleged improper use of a blow torch started the fire.
Dozens of building tenants filed a lawsuit against the management company and the city a few months later in an effort to have an independent administrator oversee the repairs being made to the building and ensure rents could not be raised.
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Yonkers man charged with arson in Elmhurst fire
More than 150 people were displaced in Tuesday's five-alarm blaze
Photo courtesy FDNY
Yonkers resident Declan Mcelhatton has been charged with arson in connection with Tuesday's five-alarm fire in Elmhurst.
Posted: Thursday, April 13, 2017 11:48 am
by Christopher Barca / Associate Editor
UPDATE:
Charges against Declan Mcelhatton were dropped on Jan. 16, 2018 after Assistant District Attorney Charissa Ilardi moved in court to have the case dismissed.
"At this time, we do not believe we are able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," Ilardi said, according to court records.
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A Yonkers man has been charged with arson and reckless endangerment in connection with Tuesday's five-alarm fire that heavily damaged a seven-story Elmhurst apartment building.
According to the FDNY, 53-year-old Declan Mcelhatton allegedly left combustible materials near an open flame in the cockloft of 56-11 94 St., two blocks behind the Queens Center mall, causing an inferno that injured 11 firefighters and displaced 175 people.
Reports, citing the authorities, said Mcelhatton is an employee of Maintenance Asset Management and had been doing work at the building the day the blaze started.
The fire destroyed 112 apartments and according to the Red Cross, 15 of the 67 displaced families spent Tuesday night sleeping at nearby PS 13, which the organization converted into a temporarily shelter.
Two hundred firefighters responded to the blaze, which broke out around 6:30 p.m., extinguishing it shortly before midnight.