'We Gotta Go Down, We're All Going': Police Applaud 'Selfless' Officers Who Responded To Bridge Collapse
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Pittsburgh police are applauding the five officers whose "rapid and selfless" response to the Pittsburgh bridge collapse helped save lives.
Police said officers Tyler Nestler, Ryan Henry, Jeffrey Labella, Rebecca Franks and Matthew Salerno from Zone 4 had just completed roll call and were starting their shifts early Friday morning last week when reports of a bridge collapse came in.
On the morning of January 28, five Zone 4 officers had just completed roll call and were starting their shifts when...
Posted by Pittsburgh Bureau of Police on Friday, February 4, 2022
They were the first responders on scene, arriving at the Squirrel Hill side of the chasm where they could see a Port Authority bus and vehicles swallowed by the wreckage.
Police said officer LaBella radioed his supervisor and said, "We gotta go down, we're all going."
They slid down the hillside and went vehicle to vehicle to find those who were hurt and get them to safety with the help of EMS and firefighters, police said, adding that the gas leak made the situation even tenser.
"Congratulations to these officers whose rapid and selfless response helped save lives," police said.
A day earlier, Pittsburgh Public Safety shared dozens of photographs of the collapse through the eyes of the first responders called to the scene.
Pittsburgh Public Safety has compiled photos of first responders in action at the scene of the Fern Hollow Bridge...
Posted by Pittsburgh Public Safety Department on Thursday, February 3, 2022
No one was killed but 10 were injured when the bridge collapsed, just hours before Biden was scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh to highlight the infrastructure law now funding the reconstruction.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation.