Ellenville police buy bike for girl after her old one is lost in accident – ​​Daily Freeman

From left: Ellenville Police Chief Philip Mattracion and Officers Daniel Persell and Salvatore Giordano with 11-year-old Izzy Guerrero and her new bike. (Photo provided by Ellenville Police Department)

ELLENVILLE, NY — Two village police officers, a dispatcher and the police chief held a collection at police headquarters on Monday, July 15, and were able to present an 11-year-old girl with a bicycle to replace the one she lost in an accident in June.

“This is what community policing is all about,” Police Chief Philip Mattracion said shortly after he, Officers Daniel Persell and Salvatore Giordano and dispatcher Arnold Ortiz surprised Izzy Guerrero of Canal Street with a shiny, brand new pink and blue bicycle they had purchased, as well as a bike lock and helmet donated by the Walmart store in Napanoch.

Despite last week’s heat wave, Izzy made necklaces and sold them for a dollar at a stall on the corner of Berme Road and Canal Street, Mattracion said.

The department’s impromptu fundraiser began after police received a 911 call requesting a welfare check on the girl because of the heat, Mattracion said. “We went upstairs, me and Officer Giordano, to check, and when we saw her, we said, ‘She’s OK,'” he said.

Izzy told Mattracion and Giordano that she was trying to make some money, but did not tell them about her goal of raising money for a bicycle.

“We’ve sent more officers there in the last few days to buy things. The officers found out today why she did it. She wanted to earn money to buy the bike she wanted. … Her mother works hard and she wanted to do it herself. And she was outside every day in that heat and sat there, her mother told me, for hours. They had to drag her out of there to bring her back into the house,” Mattracion said.

Izzy also plans to sell lemonade at the village baseball field, he said.

When they learned of Izzy’s destination, “the officers and dispatcher all donated money and covered the cost. We went and got it and Walmart actually donated the helmet and the lock,” the police chief said.

“She had raised about a hundred dollars so far, but we told her to save her money,” Mattracion said. “When we showed up on the bike, she got emotional. We told her, ‘Keep your money and use it for something else you enjoy.'”

“It’s a really good example of community policing. I’m proud of these guys. A couple of them had the idea to invest in their community,” Mattracion said. “That’s what we do down here, we’re a small town, you have to invest in your community, and that’s what community policing does: it creates pathways.”