Garden City and Nassau County police arrested a former Garden City Hotel employee accused of causing quite a health scare Oct. 20 that resulted in the hotel's evacuation of at least 200 people, including the New York Rangers who were staying there for Thursday's Islanders game.

According to Nassau County Detective/Lieutenant Kevin Smith, 23-year-old Scott Wallace of Rosedale, Queens, entered a hotel side door at approximately 3 p.m. covering his face with his shirt although initial reports stated it was a respirator-type gas mask. Reports allege Wallace purposely dropped an unknown liquid chemical, which some said smelled a lot like ammonia or vomit, on the floor in the rotunda area and fled the scene in a 1990 red Toyota.

At least eight people - six hotel employees, one Garden City police officer and one patron - came in contact with the noxious-smelling substance and, as a precaution, were quarantined and decontaminated on the hotel's west side. None fell ill because of the incident.

Garden City police officers and firefighters, Nassau County Haz-Mat, the Nassau County Health Department, the American Red Cross Disaster Unit, the Nassau County Fire Marshal's office, Crimestoppers, the county's Emergency Services Unit, the MTA K-9 Unit and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), among others, converged on the scene.

As Nassau County police helicopters canvassed the area, patrons and employees waited it out in the hotel's parking lot. Garden City Village Administrator Robert Schoelle soon after opened the St. Paul's Field House, which accommodated hotel occupants transported there via bus. They returned to the hotel at approximately 8:30 p.m.

Eyewitness accounts helped police obtain a partial license plate number. According to Garden City Police Commissioner Ernest Cipullo, the New York City Police Department, FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force were notified. After preliminary testing through a mobile lab unit, the substance was proven not to be a health risk. Reports later revealed Wallace concocted a mixture of numerous household food products, including Cream of Wheat, powdered lemonade mix, Alfredo sauce, milk and more.

After consulting the district attorney's office, police charged Wallace with one count of second-degree criminal mischief and one count of placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in the first degree. An arraignment at First District Court in Hempstead was slated for Oct. 21.

(Editor's Note: Look in next week's issue for a letter from Garden City Hotel President Cathy Nelkin Miller thanking all those in the community for their support.)