4th Pct. police officers honored as ‘Top Cops’

Nassau County police Officers Anthony Albanese, Roberto Varela and Sgt. James Crawford were honored for helping to save the life of a man who had gone into cardiac arrest outside the police department’s 4th Precinct in Hewlett on April 20.

The officers were named “Top Cops” by the Nassau County Legislature at a meeting at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building on June 18.
The incident began close to 4 p.m., when a man ran into the precinct building and told officers that his friend was in his car and had stopped breathing; the two had been on the way to a doctor as friend was not feeling well.

The officers saw that the man in the passenger’s seat was not breathing and had no pulse. They then began to perform cardio pulmonary resuscitation. After administering a single shock from an automated external defibrillator, the man’s pulse restarted and he began breathing again.

Albanese and Varela noted there were able to jump in and do what they did because of their training. Varela talked about being prepared to help at all times. “I think that’s the hardest part of being a cop,” he said. “Things can happen at any moment. It could be the most boring day and something can happen in the blink of an eye.