PBA Recognizes Its ‘Finest’: Shining Light on Life-Savers

PBA Recognizes Its 'Finest'
Shining Light on Life-Savers

By REUVEN BLAU

For veteran Police Officer Edgar Louis-Juste, the rescue of his career started with a loud thud - the sound of someone being hit by a car.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SAVED CHOKING BABY: Police Officer Edgar Louis-Juste and his wife are all smiles after he received the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association Finest of the Finest award at a Dec. 5 ceremony at the Water Club. Officer Louis-Juste helped resuscitate an infant choking on a piece of orange, after the boy's nanny was hit by a car while attempting to get help last March. On patrol last March, he ran toward the noise on East 72nd St. and 2nd Ave., where he saw a nanny - whose legs had just been smashed by a truck - holding a choking baby in her arms.

Serendipitously, Officer Louis-Juste knew the super of the building at the corner of the accident, who quickly offered to drive the baby to the hospital. "We jumped into the car," Mr. Louis-Juste recalled, during the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association annual Finest of the Finest award ceremony Dec. 5 at the Water Club.

Gave Baby CPR

In the backseat of the SUV, Mr. Louis-Juste frantically performed CPR on the year-old baby boy, who he later discovered was choking on a piece of orange. "You can't leave me; you're not going anywhere; you're too young," he remembered thinking throughout the ordeal.

But the 14-year NYPD veteran hadn't used CPR on anyone since learning the life-saving technique when he was in the Marines. "As I started doing it, [everything] started coming back to me," he remarked. "I flipped him over. I tilted his head, and as I'm doing CPR he coughed one cough and started throwing up yellow phlegm."

Mr. Louis-Juste was one of the 43 cops honored for their bravery and compassion at the PBA ceremony. PBA President Patrick J. Lynch told the awardees and their gathered family members that their work often goes unnoticed by the public, who are quick to blame officers when incidents turn tragic.

"If not for New York City Police Officers, no one in this country could hold a protest sign and no one in this country could say and stand up for what they believe in," Mr. Lynch said.

Cites Job Hazards

Speaking about the risks officers face each day, he continued, "We see these issues and work through these issues each and every day ... When you receive this award, you truly know you are the Finest of the Finest."

P.O. Brian Sheehy was honored by his peers for rescuing a drowning baby in Staten Island last March. During his daytime patrol, he was called to the scene near Edgewater St. after passersby noticed an emotionally disturbed man walking around aimlessly while clutching a baby.

"He was on the water's edge, walking rapidly towards the water." Mr. Sheehy recalled. "We planned on talking to him, but he treated us like we weren't even there."

The man then jumped off a pier, landing on a bed of rocks several feet below. He then stood up and dove into the icy water.

"I was right behind him, trying to catch up with him, but they both disappeared," Officer Sheehy remarked, noting the water was dirty and dark. "Maybe 30 or 40 seconds later I noticed the baby pop out of the water, like a cork in the water."

'Choking But Breathing'

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow WATER RESCUE: Police Officer Brian Sheehy, left, was honored by Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch with a Finest of the Finest award at a Dec. 5 ceremony. Mr. Sheehy saved a drowning baby in Staten Island last March. Six months later, he was badly injured in a car accident while responding to a robbery in progress.

The veteran officer then swam approximately 30 feet to reach the eight-month-old boy. "He was choking, but still breathing," he remembered. "There was no time to wait for any emergency service or anything like that. I know how to swim, I wasn't afraid of the water; it's just that it was very cold and the tide was rough too."

Officer Sheehy swam the entire way back holding the baby out of the water. "He was so cold he was turning purple," he said. "I had a pool growing up; swimming was never a problem for me."

His partner, Sergeant Brian Vaughan, had called for help, so there were already ambulances waiting to assist them when they got back on land.

The boy's father, Charles Walker, didn't resurface, and Emergency Services Unit officers found his body a short while later. Authorities later discovered that he had slashed the boy's mother in the face earlier that day, after a bitter custody battle.

According to Officer Sheehy, the baby was treated for a fever and released from St. Vincent's Hospital later that day.

Mishap Of His Own

Unfortunately, six months later Officer Sheehy himself was admitted to that same hospital for two weeks after he was badly injured along with his partner in a horrific accident that occurred while they were responding to an early-morning house robbery in progress.

Driving to the scene at 5:40 a.m., Mr. Sheehy said he was cut off by a FedEx truck, which caused his patrol car to slam into a telephone pole. "I suffered a broken leg, ankle, ribs, and punctured lung," Officer Sheehy remarked. His partner at the time, Joseph Labignera, also broke his leg.

At the scene of the accident, the FedEx driver used a fire extinguisher in his truck to help put out the flaming patrol car while the officers were still trapped inside.

Officer Sheehy said that he misses police work, but still isn't sure when, if ever, he will be able to return after shattering his femur. "I'm still recovering," he commented. "I'm just waiting to heal. I don't know how I'm going to feel months down the road."

As for Officer Louis-Juste, he often sees the baby he saved while on patrol in the same Upper East Side area. "Little Nicholas is a handsome little boy," he remarked, noting that the tyke often starts crying when they see each other. "He's still a little scared of me, because he remembers when I was beating his back, getting him to breathe. But that's okay; he'll come through."

The nanny, who injured her legs in the accident, recently gave birth to a baby boy of her own. "She called me a couple of weeks ago asking me to be the baby's godfather," Mr. Louis-Juste said. "And I gladly accepted. She e-mailed me a picture, a beautiful kid."

The other officers who received awards were: Matee Brisbane, Cornell Enoch, Kenneth O'Connor, Nicholas Douglas, Daniel Ehrenreich, Zachary Bonner, William Coyle, Evelio Rosario, James Smith, Brendan Heaps, Kevin Kee, Ricardo Chi, James Butler;

Hector Ramierez, John Antonacci, Milko Mejia, Anthony Reynolds, Andrew Rydlewski, Ajay Kappour, Patrick Gaines, Brian DeBoer, Scott Chin, Claude Jean-Pierre, William Scheffler, Piotr Pszeniczny, Christopher Wiesneski, Michael Clark, Brendan Parpan, Shawn Gallagher, Anthony Francavilla, Paul Chaves, Horace Robinson, Alexander Mercado, Carlos Deleon, Francisco Rivera, Raisa Estevez, Albert Brust, Jason Jeremiah, Dominick Desiervi, John Baumeister, and Michael Ingram.