Ossining police probing cause of homeless immigrant's death

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

Ossining police probing cause of homeless immigrant's death

By SHAWN COHEN

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 15, 2007)

OSSINING - Police didn't yet know what caused a 50-year-old village man to fall and die yesterday in a residential driveway, in part because no witnesses had come forward by late in the day.

But they were continuing their investigation, trying to determine whether Jose Daniel Naula-Zhagul, a homeless Ecuadorean immigrant was possibly drunk or had any confrontations that could have contributed to his death.

"We're going back to a timeline to try and see where he was in the last 24 hours, what he was doing and who he was with," Ossining Police Chief Joseph Burton said. "It looks like he fell, but we're looking to find the reason he fell. "We're processing this as a crime scene."

Naula-Zhagul had had several run-ins with the law in the past for public drinking and medical calls, Burton said.

His body was found on the driveway outside 47 Broad Ave., just west of Route 9, shortly before 9:30 a.m. When police arrived, the body was face-down on the pavement with a head wound. He was unresponsive to paramedics' lifesaving efforts, the chief said.

Burton said police were awaiting the results of an autopsy from the Westchester Medical Examiner's Office.

The police chief said there were no bottles of alcohol near the body. There was no indication he had been shot or stabbed, or that he had fallen from the adjacent house. Since no witnesses had come forward, police didn't know whether he may have been pushed or tripped.

Police spoke with two of Naula-Zhagul's daughters, who live locally, before releasing his name yesterday afternoon.

Neighborhood residents and merchants said Naula-Zhagul had two other adult children in the area, a son and another daughter. He worked occasional construction jobs, they said, but was known to have a drinking problem and had been seen staggering on the sidewalk earlier in the morning.

"He'd walk around drunk," said Miguel Enriques of Ossining, who said he'd played soccer with the man and considered him a friend. "I'd tell him to stop, but he didn't listen."

He had been in Ossining for at least six years, witnesses said, but his wife was still in Ecuador.

I believe that is how the Mt Kisco story started out. We all no what happened next. Back in the day I heard that the POLICE had to go door to door to find out I think how many people lived in houses. They would then pass that on to the CENSUS BUREAU. There should be a way for us to monitor HOW MANY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are in our area. I know that it would have to be HUGE TASK FORCE to do this but something has to be done. It is getting out of control.

BTW he was a really good man and father and a hard worker. YEAH RIGHT.

[ltjay157 10]

Oneeye, don't be soo sarcastice when someone for the outstanding ILLEGAL population gets killed. They did nothing wrong (sarcasm). I agree that something needs to be done with the amount of illegals in this country. My family all came through Ellis Island and had to know the language, have a sponsor & had a job when they got here. Our society is going down the toilet because the politicians don't care about the common people, but the people that lobby them & their rich, pork friends. Sorry for my rant, just getting soo tired of always reading about the problems that shouldn't have even happened if the Gov't followed their own laws years ago in regards to immigration.