Officers plead for safety harnesses
PORT AUTHORITY cops assigned to a suicide prevention squad on the George Washington Bridge risk their lives to save others, but without a key piece of equipment — a $40 harness.
The Port Authority police officer’s union has repeatedly asked agency heads for harnesses so they can strap in before grabbing someone dangling off the edge of the George span’s walkway, preparing to jump.
Port Authority Police Benevolent Association President Paul Nunziato said that the Port Authority is doing a lot to prevent suicides on the Hudson River span linking Washington Heights to New Jersey. They’ve added surveillance cameras and phones that will connect callers with crisis intervention specialists.
Still, more could be done to protect the men and women responsible for saving 70 would-be jumpers from the bridge last year.
“The Port is putting an effort in, but they could be putting a better effort in,” Nunziato said. “They could give my guys harnesses so they could strap into the bridge or a patrol car so if they are hanging off the bridge holding onto someone, they’re as safe as they can be.”
Nunziato asked for harnesses in the past, but reiterated his request after a 54-year-old man climbed to the “top of the steel,” the highest point on the New Jersey tower, about 600 feet in the air.
Both Port Authority and NYPD cops climbed to the top on Oct. 28 to talk Alberto Hernandez out of jumping.
But the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit cops had harnesses. His cops didn’t have anything to prevent them from being blown right off the spire, he said.
“Emergency services have harnesses, but sometimes by the time they get there the job is over,” Nunziato (inset) said. “In the middle of rush hour, by the time you get that specialized unit at the scene, the person is either saved or in the water.”
Port Authority officials did not return calls seeking comment.
A standard fall protection harness is about $40 on Amazon.com. Many cops on the walkway patrol want to buy their own harnesses, but don’t because if they’re caught using them they would get in trouble for using unauthorized equipment, a source with knowledge of the issue said.
“At the turn out of every tour, there’s an equipment inspection and if you are seen carrying unauthorized equipment, you’re going to get banged for it,” the source said.
There are about 75 cops assigned to the George Washington Bridge on a given day, all of whom can respond to a report of a jumper. Of those, four officers are specifically assigned to patrol the walkway.
Port Authority Police Officer Vincent Zappulla, who was on the top of the spire with Hernandez when he surrendered, agreed that the agency should pay for the harnesses.
In May, he and his fellow officers pulled a 6-foot-5, 280-pound man from the other side of the railing. “We grabbed his arms, but he was very determined to go,” Zappulla recalled. “I was hanging onto his arm. Another cop had his other arm and had to reach his hands through the railing to get him up and over.”
But both of them could have easily been pulled over the side, Zappulla said.
“When you’re reaching over a railing and hanging onto a guy, if he goes, we may topple over with him,” Zappulla said. “It’s a simple thing for us to have harnesses. Still, in spite of (not having them) we do it
anyway.”