THREATS AND ATTACK: WHEN BOARD MEMBERS FACE DANGER AND VIOLENCE

Zsebedics contacted the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, because of the apparent terrorist tone of the threat. And the board installed $30,000 worth of covert surveillance cameras and related equipment — which shortly thereafter weeks recorded a woman in one of the elevators writing on the walls.

It then took detectives a few weeks to make a positive identification, but in early 2005 they arrested 52-year-old Chandramattie Singh, who told police she did it out of anger that the maintenance fees were increasing. She was charged with first-degree criminal mischief, a felony, as well as "making graffiti," a misdemeanor. The board compelled Singh, who wound up doing community service, to sell the apartment. She moved away.

Threats, says Zsebedics, "happen here several times a year. We've been threatened in the management office, where people come in and say, 'We're gonna kill you — you've raised the maintenance too many times.' Or it's an argument about a garage space, where we have a waiting list of three years and they flip out on us. They'll threaten to kill us if they don't like the answer we give them."

The threateners' identities aren't even always known. "There are 5,000 residents here," Zsebedics says. "Sometimes, they don't tell us who they are. We'll call the police, but we can't be sure what building they're from, or whether they even live here or not." On occasion, after work, "I, my assistant, and a security person have all gone to the garage at the same time because of threats we've received that day."

Board Responsibility

"If somebody is threatening someone, it is primarily the responsibility of the person being threatened to deal with it," says attorney Steve Wagner, a partner at Wagner Davis, "except," he notes, "when the threat is completely within the scope of his responsibility as an officer/director. In that case, the threat is made not because of something the individual did but because of something the co-op/board did, and it should take on the responsibility."

For instance," says Wagner, slander against an individual is not a board matter. "But when someone says, 'I'm going to beat you up because the board didn't do x, y, and z,' then the board should take responsibility." If the board takes no action after learning of a threat, it leaves itself open to litigation, he adds.

If the board refuses to support a threatened director, then the board needs to be put on notice. "It doesn't have to be an attorney letter," says veteran real estate lawyer Bruce Levinson, "but just a written communication saying, 'This happened and I believe we as a board need to do something.' If the board ignores [the notice], it's at their peril."

Calling the Cops

On one's own, an individual board member could file a police complaint against the threatener, on the grounds of harassment. But unless you get a sympathetic detective, that may be of limited use. A more practical avenue is to seek an order of protection from the police.

"If you're threatened," advises Levinson, "then you do what anyone else would do, which is ask for a protective order. If it rises to something more significant — if contact is made, whether it's a shove or something worse — then go to the police, whether or not it results in bodily injury. Nobody should be assaulting anybody else, for any reason."

According to Andrea Bunis, the principal at Andrea Bunis Management, to get a protective order, you "go to your local precinct and say that you feel unsafe because someone is threatening you. You should bring along any corroborating witnesses or evidence, like a note."

If the police see your case has merit, an order of protection will be issued. This sets a limit on how close someone can get to you without triggering a police response. The one-page order, sent to the threatener, states, "Your failure to obey this order may subject you to mandatory arrest and criminal prosecution, which may result in your incarceration for up to seven years for contempt of court."