Hero NYPD Detective Honored By President Obama
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A hero NYPD detective was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House Saturday, six months after he was shot and wounded as he fought a group of robbery suspects while off-duty.
President Obama honored Detective Ivan Marcano as one of the National Association of Police Organizations Top Cops award winners.
He said Marcano thoroughly deserves the honor after his actions last October, when he continued to pursue the robbery suspects – and shoot one of them dead – even after being shot in the chest.
"What does Detective Marcano do, he jumps out of the car – he's been shot – keeps pressure on his chest with his left hand, holding a service weapon with his right, runs after the suspects," Obama said. "(He) took one of them down, which led to the capture of the others."
Marcano was off-duty when his girlfriend noticed a robbery taking place in Morris Heights on the night of Oct. 24. Marcano told his girlfriend to call 911 as he got out of their car with his gun and shield and identified himself to the suspects as a cop, police said.
Marcano, who was not wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the chest as he tried to help Mario Arbaca, who was being beaten.
The two suspects then took off in a white Ford Mustang driven by a third suspect, police said. Marcano got back into his car and with his girlfriend at the wheel, followed them.
What happened next was caught on video.
The video shows the white car Marcano was driving in pull up behind another white car that the robbery suspects were in. The suspects' car can then be seen lurching forward into a livery cab and another parked car. The white Mustang then careened onto the sidewalk before coming to a stop, police said.
After the suspects' car came to a stop, Marcano is seen in the surveillance video getting out of his car and, with one hand applying pressure to his own wound, using the other hand to shoot and kill one of the suspects, police said.
As he followed one of the suspects onto Burnside Avenue, Marcano stumbled upon an ambulance that was parked on Burnside near Harrison. He is seen in the video apparently talking to a medic in the front of the ambulance before climbing in and getting taken to the hospital.
The suspect fatally shot by Marcano was identified by police as Prince James, 18, of the Bronx.
Two other suspects, Jason Levia and Rodain Ortega, both 20, later turned themselves in as accomplices in the incident. Ortega and James were believed to be the gunman and Levia the getaway driver, according to published reports.
Also honored by President Obama Saturday was Brian Murphy, the first officer to arrive on the scene at the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin last year that killed six people.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories:
