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Kruger Urges Manslaugher For Illegal Apartment Owner State Senator Carl Kruger has urged Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes to level manslaughter charges against the owner of the illegal apartment that became a firetrap yesterday morning, killing a year-old boy and his 25-year-old mother and leaving two other family members critically injured. In a May 8th letter to Hynes, Kruger noted that Monday's tragedy in Sheepshead Bay "serves as a reminder of the potentially fatal dangers that lurk within the estimated 100,000 illegal apartments that exist in New York City." The blaze, apparently sparked by an overloaded extension cord in the bedroom on an East 15th Street basement apartment, killed one-year-old Ivan Liu and his mother, Samily Chan. Chan's other son, Deran Chan, 2, and his uncle, Zheng Chan, 27, were listed in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell in Manhattan. "All accounts indicate that building owner Ping Li Xiao created a firetrap in the illegal apartment by leaving only one accessible stairwell, closing off the second exit with an illegal partition and providing no smoke detectors that could have alerted the family in time to escape the blaze," wrote Sen. Kruger. "His reckless disregard of the safety of his tenants has des-troyed a family and left a community heartbroken." "Mr. Xiao must be held accountable for his actions," he continued. "Simply issuing violations for the illegal apartment and doing work without a permit does not accomplish this goal. Consequently, I ask that your office seek to charge Mr. Xiao with manslaughter in the second degree - a charge that answers Mr. Xiao's clearly reckless behavior and his reasonable knowledge of the probable outcome of his actions." The senator said, "Crashing the heavy lid of the law on Mr. Xiao will not only hold him accountable for this horrific crime, but will also succeed in sending a clear and compelling message to all owners of illegal apartments that they must come into compliance immediately or face stiff penalties." On Monday, Kruger asked the city to supply the Department of Build-ings with additional resources and personnel to crack down on illegal apartments.
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