New York Police Department Emergency Service Unit Irish cop Brian Glacken had a different kind of July 4th than almost most everyone.
New York Police Department (NYPD) cop Brian Glacken was one of a two-man team who rescued a protestor who had scaled Lady Liberty’s base and was trapped underneath the Statue of Liberty 100 feet above the ground.
Therese Okoumou, the woman arrested for scaling the base of the Statue of Liberty to protest against Trump’s cruel immigration policy, is proof that we can ALL be heroes of #TheResistance — each in our own way. pic.twitter.com/xVfH5JOJl0
— Jon Cooper ? (@joncoopertweets) July 5, 2018
The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration policy. She had spent three hours in a precarious position where she was in imminent danger of falling.
CNN and networks worldwide were carrying the drama live as cops tried to talk her down to safety. Eventually Glacken and Williams had to make the risky move to somehow grab her and safely get her down.
It was all in a day’s work for Glacken and partner Officer Chris Williams.
“We started engaging in a dialogue of why she was up there,” said ESU cop Brian Glacken, one of two officers who ascended the ladder.
“She was basically up there about the children in Texas. At first, she wasn’t friendly with us, but we took our time to get a dialogue with her, to get her to trust us. That took a while.”
Glacken said at one point she threatened to try and push the officers’ ladder off the statue’s base.
NYPD cop Brian Glacken speaking to the press.
Okoumou had tied herself to one of the copper vents by the feet of Lady Liberty.
“She didn’t realize one of those vents could rip right out,” Glacken said. “Once I explained that could rip right out, she got kind of worried.”
Glacken said they finally convinced her to come down after three hours.
“She apologized to Chris and I for having to go up and get her,” Glacken said.
She was being held in federal custody pending charges police sources said.
In 2011 Glacken made a dramatic rescue of a woman who had started to jump from the roof of a building in The Bronx. Glacken grabbed her at the last possible second as the crowd on the street below applauded him.
Officer Brian Glacken & EMT Madelyn McTague save the life of Natalia Ramos,pulling her off of ledge as she jumped. pic.twitter.com/KMVSgHKIJa
— Ava- I love my USA! (@WEdwarda) June 16, 2015
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