A grateful city prays for the two NYPD housing officers critically injured in a Coney Island fire Sunday.
An angry city wonders how in hell the “bored” teenager who, according to cops, admitted to setting the blaze, ever got the deadly idea in his head.
First things first. Rosa Rodriguez and Dennis Guerra responded to 911 calls and rushed inside the 18-story Housing Authority building. With courage and dedication to helping their fellow New Yorkers, they ran toward a fire when everyone else would have run away.
Rodriguez and Guerra are in dire straits, having suffered from acute smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning.
She is a mother of four. He is a father of four, son of a cop. For their families and their friends and their comrades on the job, we hope and pray that they pull through.
We salute, too, the firefighters who, following Rodriguez and Guerra, rescued the two from the hallway, where they were overcome by smoke the moment the elevator door opened.
And we honor the medical professionals, their heroism so routine and so routinely unsung, who have tended to them.
After, God willing, the lives of Rodriguez and Guerra are saved, there will be time to examine NYPD protocols for responding to fires.
Just as important, there must be swift, stern justice for the alleged arsonist who, it seems, lit up a mattress for sport. The young man has three previous arrests, all sealed because he is a juvenile.
He is now charged with two counts of assault, one count of arson and one count of reckless endangerment, crimes that will grow exponentially in intensity if either officer succumbs to the injuries inflicted.
Nothing can salve the pain of Rodriguez, Guerra and their families. But punishment for the perpetrator is imperative.
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via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
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