Police officers aim to “protect and serve,” the old saying goes. Sometimes, this means protecting people from themselves.
Such was the case on the afternoon of April 16, when two veteran 90th Precinct cops responded to a possible suicide call and protected a mentally unstable man from potentially jumping into English Kills, a Newtown Creek tributary.
Police Officers Brett Accardo and Robert Loccisano, both of whom have been on the force for around a decade, rushed to a spot near 221 Varick in East Williamsburg and saw a man sitting down and threatening to take a dangerous plunge into the heavily polluted water.
Cops approached the man and tried speaking to him, but he did not respond.
“It came to a point and the officers came to a decision that they thought he would jump if they didn’t grab him,” described Deputy Inspector Michael Kemper, the Precinct’s commanding officer.
Not hesitating for a moment, the officers bum−rushed the man and tackled him to the ground, subduing him until an ambulance arrived to take him to the hospital.
