Cops Honored by Community Board 1 for Work on Missing Girl Case

CB1 chair Catherine McVay Hughes with detectives Alistair Bascom, left, and David Okonek. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Community Board 1 Chair Catherine McVay Hughes honored two First Precinct detectives at the board’s monthly meeting on Tuesday in gratitude for their efforts in finding a three-year-old Battery Park City girl who went missing for nearly 15 hours on March 17. The certificates of appreciation also thank the “patrol, detective and K9 units” who worked on the case.

“Every parent’s worse nightmare is having your kid gone,” McVay Hughes said before handing certificates to detectives Alistair Bascom and David Okonek.

“We cannot even begin to express our sincere gratitude for this lifesaving work,” she added.

Fatima Alexander, the nanny of the toddler, Gabriella Russo of 22 River Terr., failed to show up at the child’s preschool in Chinatown and the two remained missing until after midnight, when Alexander returned the child to her home. Alexander was charged with kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment.