A dramatic NYPD rescue of a suicidal woman from the Kosciuszko Bridge Monday was captured on video, showing the moment two veteran officers were able to convince the woman to allow herself to be pulled up over the railing and onto the ground above the bridge.
The 45-year-old Brooklyn woman was standing on a 5-inch pipe on the outside of the bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Queens over the Newtown Creek, when officers were called there, according to police.
Emergency Service Units responded, as did a detective from the 108th Precinct station in Long Island City, police said. Det. Meghan Kinsella, a 14-year veteran who worked as a domestic violence officer for more than nine years, had just finished a home visit when she heard the 911 call and went to assist in the response.
Kinsella, along with Det. Steven Stefanakos of the ESU, began talking to the woman and taking turns engaging in conversation, despite her not being responsive at first, they said.
"As a woman and a mother, I was nervous for her," Kinsella told NBC 4 New York. "I knew I wanted to do my best to get her back up."
Kinsella said she tried to convince the woman the officers would be with her every step of the way. She and Stefanakos took turns speaking with her for nearly two and a half hours.
Stefanakos, a 24-year veteran with 20 years in the ESU, said when he first started speaking with her, she released a wire she was holding onto and bent her knees as if she was going to jump.
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"I told her, I don't know what is going on and what is happening with you, but give us a chance to talk to you," he said. When he mentioned family and children, she grabbed back onto the wire.
Stefanakos, a father himself, said that's when he knew he'd made a critical connection with her. An instructor with the ESU, he teaches officers how to interact with emotionally disturbed persons in crisis and he was able to recognize that the woman was calling out for help, the NYPD said.
Eventually, Stefanakos and Kinsella were able to convince the woman to come off the ledge, and that's when the officers reached over, grabbed the woman and pulled her up to safety.
"The first thing I did was I grabbed her, hugged her and kissed her, and I said, 'You're so brave,'" said Kinsella.
EMS took the woman to Elmhurst Hospital for treatment.
"It's a huge relief," said Stefanankos. "It actually is euphoric because you made a difference in somebody's life, right there and then."
Kinsella said, "I'm a mom, so I just wanted to get her home safe with her family."
