Sep 202012
 

Last Wednesday at City Hall, New York City Police Officer Yi Huang received a special proclamation from City Councilman Vincent Gentile for his role in helping to save the life of a despondent man named Lin Huan Quiang, as reported by Denise Romano for the Home Reporter. Lin, an immigrant from China, had attempted to jump off the Verrazano Bridge.

The humble and undoubtedly heroic Officer Huang had responded to a call put out for speakers of Cantonese, the only language Lin is fluent in. He rushed to the scene from the NYPD’s Fifth Precinct in Chinatown, going “above and beyond the call of duty,” as Gentile proclaimed to members of the press. As wind and loud thunderstorms made the task more difficult, Huang and the other first responders were able to save Lin from a premature and needless death.

However, according to at least one account, there is another police officer who also deserves credit. Continue reading »

Jul 312012
 

Image source: jesus-leon via Flickr.

According to one veteran police reporter and author, the NYPD’s Public Information Office likes to credit its own officers for their good deeds over members of other law enforcement agencies, even if that means stretching the truth. A lot.

In his weekly online column NYPD Confidential, Leonard Levitt details a purported insiders account of last week’s heroic talk down of a suicidal man from the edge of the Verrazano Bridge.

The difference between the official story put out by the press and what Levitt says really happened?

Levitt writes that it was in fact MTA Bridge and Tunnel officer Eddie Fung who spent four hours talking down despondent civilian Lin Huan Quiang, not Officer Yi Huang of the NYPD’s 5th Precinct in Chinatown – as had previously been reported by multiple news organizations. Continue reading »