Bulletin Notes
Law enforcement officers are challenged daily in the performance of their duties; they face each encounter freely and unselfishly while answering the call to duty. In certain instances, their actions warrant special attention from their respective departments. The Bulletin also wants to recognize those situations that transcend the normal rigors of the law enforcement profession.
One afternoon, Officers Christopher Cerny and Garry Lamour of the New York Police Department Transit Bureau, assigned to a transit patrol post in a busy Manhattan subway station, were alerted by a station agent that there was a report of a man on the train tracks.
The officers ran to the subway platform where they saw the victim, a 32-year-old man, lying on the tracks and unresponsive. Officer Lamour began a flagging technique that signals the incoming train to stop. Because it would have taken several minutes to cut the power to the electrified third rail and the man was in danger of being electrocuted, the officers immediately jumped from the platform and down to the tracks to remove him.
Officers Cerny and Lamour lifted the victim onto the platform and rendered first aid until paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital, where he was expected to fully recover. An investigation revealed it was likely the man suffered a seizure, causing him to fall while waiting for the train.
Interestingly, despite how busy the subway system is and how even the most minor delays can cascade into major service issues, the rescue was so well-executed that there were no interruptions to train service beyond the paused incoming train.
Officer Christopher Cerny
Officer Garry Lamour
Nominations for the Bulletin Notes should be based on either the rescue of one or more citizens or an arrest(s) made at unusual risk to an officer’s safety. Submissions should include a short write-up, a separate photograph of each nominee, and a letter from the department’s ranking officer endorsing the nomination. Submissions can be emailed to leb@fbi.gov.