If it weren’t for two officer’s good instincts and ability to act quickly under pressure, over a dozen people may not be alive today.
While making their routine patrol of the surrounding area near Throop Avenue at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 25, Officer Wesley Dangler and his partner Officer Andy Yoon drove by a two-family home, when they noticed a thick cloud of black smoke covering the entire street.
Acting on instinct, according to Yoon, the two officers quickly drove around the block, and raced into the home from which the smoke was coming from, and began knocking on doors to wake the 14 people who were all asleep at the time.
“I guess when we arrived the smoke alarm had just started going off,” Yoon said. “No one knew what to do, so we started waking everyone up and getting them out of the building. Then we called emergency personnel as well as the fire department.”
Because of the actions of officers Yoon and Dangler in saving these lives, they were awarded “cop of the month” by Capt. Kevin Nicholson, who presented the award to the officers along with Senator Jeff Klein, the award’s sponsor, 49th Precinct Community Council president Joe Thompson, District Attorney Robert Johnson, and Chief Inspector Carlos Gomez.
Yoon said it was nice to receive the award, but he was just doing his job.
“I did what I had to do,” he said. “It is my passion to serve the public, I love helping people.”
