Roosevelt Island Senior Citizen In Distress Says RIOC Public Safety Department Refused To Provide Needed Assistance As She Struggled To Walk Home - RIOC Says Covid 19 Protocols Prohibit Requested Aid

A long time Roosevelt Island resident, a Senior Citizen having difficulty walking home asked a Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Safety Department (PSD) Officer for assistance last Friday. She, identified as ML, reports what happened to her.

                                                                                                   Image From RIOC

According to ML:

Is Public Safety Part of the Roosevelt Island Community?

By ML

Community means a lot to Roosevelt Island residents, and we like to think that our public safety officers are part of our community, and we treat them that way. But do our public safety officers feel the same way about us?

After what happened to me, I am not sure that they do.

On Friday afternoon, you might have seen a patrol car and two ambulances trailing a senior as she struggled to walk home. That was me. Instead of giving me water or a ride, they watched me as I shuffled home in agony over the course of an hour, apparently waiting for me to collapse from exhaustion before they would do anything to help.

The way they treated me was wrong. I call on the chief of Public Safety to resign: he or a subordinate apparently told the officer on the scene not to help me. And I call for Officer DeJesus—the officer on the scene—to be held accountable for not helping a resident in distress.

Here’s how events unfolded.

I was out on a walk to the lighthouse Friday afternoon when I started to feel physically unable to walk all the way back home to Island House, where I have lived for thirty years. I told Officer DeJesus, who was in a patrol car near Octagon that I was a senior person in physical distress, needed to get home fast to rest, and didn’t think I could make it on my own.  

He said he was not authorized to give people a ride.  

I explained that I was not asking for a joy ride, that driving me home would spare me further exhaustion. He asked for my building name and apartment number. He called his base. He could not do it.

Pointing to the motto painted on his car—courtesy, professionalism, respect—I reminded him that this was a humanitarian issue, that his rules could not prevent him from helping a senior woman.  He said he could call an ambulance.

I did not need an ambulance, I needed to get home fast to rest. I had a few drops of water left in my bottle, the sun felt hot, the walk back seemed interminable.  I asked him to please give me some water.  

He refused.

I pressed on, stopping every few feet, holding onto the railing by the Manhattan side of the river, to catch my breath.

Officer DeJesus started driving slowly behind me waiting for me to collapse, which would prompt him to call an ambulance. I was exhausted and wondered whether I could make it.  

As I approached Westview, after 45 minutes of dragging my feet along the ground from Octagon, with Officer DeJesus following along behind watching me from his car, I saw the flashing lights of two ambulances preceded by another security car approach. The driver of the first ambulance called out to me. He asked for my name; I reiterated that I needed to be helped home and that I needed water badly.  

He said that he could not give me a ride and had no water.  The new security officer stood there, listening, and did nothing.

I pressed on, feet dragging on the ground.

Finally, a woman came towards me and offered to support me to my home. She was a Westview resident who had watched the scene from her apartment window and had rushed downstairs because she could tell that I needed help.  

She walked me to the Good Shepherd Chapel plaza, sat me on a bench and went to the deli to get me some water. It was 6:15 pm. It had taken me one hour to shuffle back home with the security officer on my heels watching me suffer from his car.

That’s why I am calling on the chief of Public Safety, who runs a department that won't help a senior in distress, to step down.  

If the chief didn’t want to allow residents in his patrol cars—and why would that be? I was wearing my mask—he could at least have sent an officer on foot with some water and a helping hand to support me home. Was this asking too much? I’ve never asked for help from public safety before. 

Why did a Westview resident have to take time out of her busy day to provide the aid that our public safety officers are paid to provide? 

And what would have happened if she hadn’t? 

Officer DeJesus, who drove slowly behind me, in the comfort of his car, watching my unsteady steps, my frequent stops to catch my breath, must be held accountable for doing nothing in the face of obvious suffering. 

I know we have a strong community here on the island. That Westview resident who dropped everything to come outside and help me tells me that’s true more than ever. But I’m not sure anymore that Public Safety is a part of it. 

Or wants to be.

Today, I asked RIOC President Shelton Haynes and PSD Chief Kevin Brown if they have any response to ML's description of the incident. RIOC Public Information Officer Amy Smith replied:

Our Public Safety Department (PSD) adheres to COVID-19 protocols in order to keep the community safe. As a part of these protocols, it is not advisable for individuals – particularly the elderly – to be in close quarters with essential front-line workers such as PSD officers. 

Also according to the protocols, our officer called an ambulance, which is equipped to safely aid all individuals. The purpose of our officer following the individual was to ensure their safety until EMS arrived. However, this individual refused the aid that was offered to them.