A New York Police Department (NYPD) police officer was honored for saving a man's life last week. Christian Campoverde was honored by Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, on Tuesday.
On Dec. 20, Campoverde had not reported for duty. He had taken leave and gone with his family to the Queens Center Mall. As they were shopping and walking around the building, they noticed a man looking very concerned that was trying to make his way past the escalators and the other shoppers. The man looked disturbed and said that he wanted to end his life, according to the New York Post.
Other shoppers that noticed the man were angry with him and probably didn't realize that he might have been experiencing a lot of stress. Campoverde assessed that the man was probably experiencing stress and could put himself in a potentially harmful situation. The policeman's wife also noticed these signs and confirmed his feelings. He then decided to follow the man wherever he went, according to AOL.
As Campoverde was tracking the man, he finally came to a balcony where he had placed one leg on the other side of the railing, preparing to take a leap to end his life. Campoverde then reached for the man's body and pulled him back to the balcony.
The office tried to calm him down, but nothing seemed to work. He then just asked the man, "Is it OK if I give you a hug. Do you want a hug?" The other man replied yes, and then he just fell into Campoverde's arms and began to weep, according to People Magazine.
Once other people reached the scene, the troubled man was taken by a team of paramedics and evaluated.
It might have helped Campoverde that he had completed training as a member of the Crisis Intervention Team of the NYPD just the week before. The training was geared to help officers identify symptoms and signs of distress and mental disease. The training also helped with planning and executing the most appropriate strategies for intervention when dealing with people that displayed these kinds of signs.
