[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 158 (Tuesday, November 4, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2217]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            NEW YORK'S FINEST: THE MEN OF THE 75TH PRECINCT

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 4, 2003

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Edward Vasquez, Dino 
Anselmo and Brian Latimore; detectives of the 75th Precinct in 
Brooklyn, for their recent heroic efforts.
  While we are rightly reminded about the heroism of police officers, 
and other first responders after 9/11, police officers risk their lives 
to save others' lives every day of the year. As an example of one such 
heroic effort, I am submitting for the Record an article published on 
November 3, 2003, in the N.Y. Daily News about how three Brooklyn 
detectives who saved the life of a young girl trapped inside a burning 
building. For their efforts, all of us from New York City, especially 
those from Brooklyn, are proud and grateful.

                     [From the New York Daily News]

                Hero of the Month: Cops Donned Fire Hats

                       (By Patrice O'Shaughnessy)

       (Hero of the Month spotlights those men and women, civil 
     servants and civilians, who go beyond the call of duty to 
     make New York a better place.)
       Edward Vasquez, Dino Anselmo and Brian Latimore are three 
     longtime detectives in East New York, Brooklyn, used to 
     confronting gunmen and tracking down murder suspects. Racing 
     into a smoke-filled building recently to evacuate tenants 
     proved to be equally tense.
       ``It's just a reaction,'' Latimore said. ``You see a guy 
     with a gun, you don't think about it while you're doing it. 
     You just think about getting another gun off the street. We 
     saw the smoke; we all knew we were going to go.''
       The result brought the same satisfaction. ``Everybody got 
     out safe; that's what it's all about,'' Latimore said.
       For disregarding their own safety and rescuing a 4-year-old 
     girl and several adults from a fire, the three are the Daily 
     News Heroes of the Month.
       ``They could have just stood outside and called 911,'' said 
     Mariano Alvarado, whose daughter, Taija, was carried out by 
     the cops. ``They cared about getting people out. They ran in 
     themselves.''
       The detectives, all of whom have young daughters, were 
     driving on Pitkin Ave. on their way to the 75th Precinct 
     station at 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 23, after searching for a 
     robbery suspect, when Anselmo spotted smoke.
       Latimore turned their car down Ashford St., and they saw 
     smoke pouring out from the top of a three-story building.
       It was raining hard. ``Not a soul was on the block,'' 
     Vasquez said.
       The building was run-down--the windows of the top floor 
     boarded up, tenants on the second floor, squatters living on 
     the first.
       ``I was pretty sure it was occupied, because I saw a Big 
     Wheels on the second-floor fire escape,'' Vasquez said. ``We 
     got out of the car and ran right in.''
       They started banging on doors on the first floor. The smoke 
     was coming down the stairs and filling the hallway, which was 
     dimly lit to start with.
       ``The landing was all black smoke,'' Anselmo said. ``Brian 
     went to the car to get a flashlight. . . . I found three 
     adults in the rear apartment on the first floor. We asked if 
     anyone was upstairs, and they said a family and a little 
     baby.''
       Vasquez went up. ``I was holding onto the wall going up 
     stairs. The plywood was hot. . . . I was afraid the stairs 
     would fall.''
       He kicked an apartment door open and saw Alvarado waking up 
     in an apartment full of smoke. Alvarado said he had not 
     smelled any fire. ``I heard someone trying to kick in the 
     door. . . . My daughter was watching TV in the bedroom, my 
     wife and baby daughter were at the hospital and a detective 
     was in my kitchen,'' he said.
       ``He grabbed my daughter and another cop grabbed me. It was 
     pretty smoky in the stairs.'' Vasquez put his jacket over 
     Taija and Anselmo hustled Alvarado out. ``I could hear 
     crackling and crashing, and I started coughing, and then I 
     saw a little beam of light,'' Anselmo said. ``Brian got us 
     out.''
       Taija was taken to a hospital and treated for smoke 
     inhalation. Anselmo was given oxygen, then he and Vasquez 
     went to the 102nd Precinct in Queens to interview some gun 
     suspects. Latimore went back to the squad room and finished 
     his shift.
       ``You reacted, did what you had to do and got back to 
     work,'' Anselmo said. ``Later, as people started to ask us 
     about it, it felt good.''
       Alvarado and his family are in temporary housing; his 
     youngest child has high levels of lead from substandard 
     housing and requires medical treatment. ``I don't know where 
     we will go next,'' Alvarado said. They cannot return to 344 
     Ashford St. because the utilities have been shut off--the 
     building was declared dangerous to live in--and the apartment 
     has been looted of pipes and a new radiator, Alvarado said.
       The three detectives were recognized by the police Honor 
     Legion. Vasquez said his 10-year-old daughter, Rachel, was so 
     excited that she kept trying on different dresses to wear to 
     the dinner. ``A lot of guys have done a lot of good things 
     here,'' Vasquez said. ``You feel great after the fact. And my 
     family was very proud.''




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