NYPD saves a life on Roosevelt Island today. Swift action and skilled training prevent a threatened suicide jump from taking place.
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Main Street traffic on Roosevelt Island came to a sudden stop at 8:30 today after a local man perched outside Motorgate’s rooftop safety railing.
RIOC Public Safety and NYPD acted fast. Traffic was halted, and NYPD installed an inflated bubble directly below.
Safety bubble in place, NYPD officers watch specialists at work overhead. Ten minutes after this photo was taken, the subject climbed back to safety and police custody.
Acting fast, NYPD saves a life
“No red buses,” a friend messaged just after 8:30. “Someone is trying to jump off Motorgate.”
But the cops were ready.
Over an hour passed before the threatened jumper was led to safety, but NYPD reduced the risk within minutes. Officers inflated a bubble beneath his location.
I was in Manhattan, a few blocks from the Tram, taking some shots for an article about the Alice Aycock Roundabout when I got the message. But things happened so fast, when I got to the Tram, the operator didn’t know about it yet.
He got a text as we docked on Roosevelt Island.
I was slow in notifying my readers because RIOC cut me off their alerts mailing list, but our building notified residents before 9:00.
Main Street Closure
“Main street is temporarily closed,” the notice read, but few knew why.
RIOC handled local traffic well. Red buses rolled along a shortened route, and PSD officers kept cars and truck moving on and off the Roosevelt Island Bridge.
NYPD saves a life so regularly, we seldom notice, but it reaches every neighborhood. Today, it was Roosevelt Island.
On the scene…
After getting as close as possible to record the scene, I asked a cop where I could get back on Main Street. But when I stopped outside 30 River Road to take a picture, a second officer waved me away.
It was procedure. Picture-taking can upset an emotional suspect, but procedure can be wrong.
Given the location, hundreds of pictures from better locations inside Manhattan Park apartments were already circulating.
NYPD saves a life, the conclusion…
Before finishing the short walk home, I got a text from always on the scene Frank Farance.
“Thank God,” he wrote, “they’ve rescued him.
Thank God and the NYPD, I thought.
A Roosevelt Island neighbor will live to see another day, hopefully a better one. Thanks to a well-prepared and trained police force.
The next time NYPD saves a life, it might be mine or yours.
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