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 »

Jul 242012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit prevented a “despondent” Brooklyn man from taking his own life by jumping off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Monday.

A “marathon negotiation session” began at around 12 when Lin Huan Qiong, 46, from Sheepshead Bay was seen climbing one of the bridge’s metal “fingers,” writes John M. Annese as part of a thrilling rescue story for the Staten Island Advance. Continue reading »

Jun 292012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr.

The Staten Island Advance is reporting that a disturbing string of suicides on the Verrazano Bridge which began in April continued yesterday, when a man in his 30s jumped from near the middle of the almost mile-long span at around 2:30 p.m. Continue reading »

Jun 142012
 

The NYPD Harbor Unit discovered a corpse floating in upper New York Bay yesterday, not far from the spot where a man had jumped from the Verrazano Bridge the week before, writes the New York Post police blotter.

The body, which appears to be that of a 46-year-old man, was found floating off Shore Road near Bay Ridge Avenue, just before 2 p.m.

Authorities are seeking to determine if the corpse’s identity is that of a man who jumped off the Verrazano Bridge last Friday.

The jumper had been tentatively identified as 46-year-old Brooklyn resident Benny Guzman. Friday’s incident was the latest in a series of suicides and attempted suicides on or near the span.

Jun 112012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Police have classified last Friday’s suicide leap from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as a missing persons case. NYPD officials made the determination after search and rescue teams came up empty in the search for a body, writes Staten Island Advance.

Friday’s incident marks the fourth in a series of both successful and attempted suicides to take place on or near the bridge by different men since April. Continue reading »

May 222012
 

Image source: DVIDSHUN via Flickr

Yesterday afternoon U.S. Coast Guard officials announced the end of a search for a man last seen jumping from the 69th Street Pier.

According to the Associated Press via the Wall Street Journal, the Coast Guard suspended the search and rescue operation at 4 p.m. yesterday – after covering a 50 square mile radius over 12 hours. Continue reading »

May 152012
 

Source: @NYC911 via Twitter (h/t to Bensonhurst Bean).

A man who was found dead Sunday in a van near the Verrazano Bridge may have taken his own life. Continue reading »