Two off-duty NYPD police officers saved a suicidal woman from taking her life earlier this month.
While commuting home on the Brooklyn Bridge late Friday, March 17, Police Officer Robert Faivre witnessed a troubling scene: a woman stumbling from the bridge’s footpath onto the roadway, the NYPD reported. He pulled his car up next to the woman and asked her what she was doing.
“I am jumping,” she said. Officer Faivre responded, “No, don’t do it!”
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The officer quickly exited his vehicle and began walking toward the woman. When the woman continued to move closer to the bridge’s outer ledge, Faivre grabbed her and pulled her away.
Shortly after this, Officer Maureen Stefenelli, who was also driving home after a late shift, witnessed the struggle and exited her vehicle to assess the situation. Stefenelli announced that she was a police officer, to which Faivre responded that he was too, and he needed her assistance. While working together to bring the woman to safety, the two officers engaged the woman in conversation.
“While talking to the woman I tried to show her I genuinely wanted to help her, I wanted her to know I cared,” Officer Faivre told the NYPD.
Once the officers were able to sit the woman down on the pavement, Officer Faivre went to move his car and position it in a way that would protect them from oncoming traffic. While he did this, Officer Stefenelli continued to speak to the woman.
“The woman said she was all alone, that no one cared about her,” Officer Stefenelli told the NYPD. “I told her we are the NYPD, that Officer Faivre and I were police officers, and that we cared.”
The two officers remained with the troubled woman until a passerby on the footpath was able to call 911, and the woman was taken to a nearby hospital.
That night, officers Faivre and Stefenelli went above and beyond the call of duty, acting as guardian angels to a woman in need.
“I’m just happy to have helped stop a woman from taking her life,” said Police Officer Faivre. “I hope she’s getting the help she needs.”
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