NYPD Officer Saves Pizza Shop Employee Shot During Attempted Robbery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An NYPD officer is being hailed as a hero after his quick actions saved a man from bleeding to death when an attempted robbery turned violent at an upper Manhattan pizza shop.
It happened around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, when police say a man captured on surveillance video entered Tom's Delicious Pizza on Broadway in Morningside Heights brandishing a gun.
He tried to take a cash from the register, and in the process shot an employee in the upper leg according to police.
The suspect ran away, but when officer Joshua Escobar arrived, he could immediately tell the employee was in bad shape. Escobar quickly pulled out his department-issued tournequite and applied it around the victim's leg.
"I took out a knife and cut his pants open, that's where I saw the wound," Escobar said. "My main concern was to make sure he was going to be okay because I kept on seeing him go in and out of consciousness, but once everything was good and the ambulance came he started talking normally."
Escobar says the training from his time in the military kicked in and he knew exactly what to do. He adds he's visited the victim in the hospital every day since the gruesome incident.
The victim says Escobar's kindness is something he won't soon forget.
"I'm really grateful for him," he said. "I wouldn't be here, so I'm really grateful for him."
Police are still searching for the would-be robber who opened fire, but didn't make off with any cash.
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74682). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.