New York - Cop & woman he rescued are reunited
New York Daily News - By Nancy Dillon, Jess Wisloski, Jordan LIte and Dave Goldiner, Daily News Staff Writers, October 2nd, 2006
Phyllis Fine wanted to thank her lifesaver - hero cop Louis Gubitosi - just one more time. In a touching reunion, the Brooklyn woman embraced Gubitosi yesterday and praised the sharpshooting officer for nailing the knife-wielding psycho who had held her hostage Saturday morning.
"It felt good; it felt really good," said Fine, 54, who escaped physically unharmed from the life-and-death drama. "I probably should have hugged him more. I hugged his mom." Fine could hardly come up with the words to express her gratitude to the 25-year-old Iraq war veteran during the emotional reunion inside his grandmother's home in Sunset Park. "I told him thank you again and again," she said. "And I told his family, thank you for giving birth to him. I wouldn't be here otherwise."
Fine was walking down Smith St. in Cobble Hill when runaway mental patient Joseph Bernazard grabbed her by the hair, pulled out a knife and threatened to kill her. Cops quickly surrounded them in front of the Met Food supermarket and tried to reason with Bernazard, 26, who had cut another woman and was screaming, "Kill me now! I want to die!" Gubitosi killed him when he managed to get a clear shot. "It was me and all my partners doing our job," he said, humbly.
Even as Fine gushed with praise for the officer, Bernazard's family blasted officials at Long Island College Hospital for letting the ranting lunatic walk out of an emergency room Friday night. They demanded to know why no one notified his family, even though he had complained of hearing voices closing in on him. "They should never have let him leave," said his sister Yolanda Bernazard, 35, who has hired a lawyer. "They have to keep a better eye on him." Hospital officials said they were cooperating with cops, but refused to say what procedures were followed in Bernazard's case.
State law requires hospitals to keep mentally ill patients if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Police brass praised Gubitosi - and steely-nerved 76th Precinct Lt. Robert Haley for giving him the order to shoot. "Lt. Haley's calm, disciplined approach brought order to a chaotic situation," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the Daily News.
Fellow cops noted that Haley, who shied away from the spotlight, wasn't afraid to go out on a limb in hopes ofsaving a hostage's life. "This couldn't have happened without levelheaded and decisive supervision," said Lt. Thomas Sullivan of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association.
Gubitosi, 25, nicknamed "Rocky," grew up in Sunset Park and graduated from Fort Hamilton High School. He joined the Marines and fought in an elite unit in Iraq - and insisted he didn't do anything special Saturday. "The situation dictated our actions," he said. Modesty aside, his father knows a hero when he sees one. "He stepped up when it mattered," said Phil Gubitosi, 44, a retired cop. "To me, he's a hero."
With Jonathan Lemire and Ernie Naspretto
Retrieved October 3, 2006 from http://www.nydailynews.com