The Best NYPD Story You'll Hear All Day: Cop Helps Save Suicidal Woman

(triborough's flickr).

By the nature of the news we see a lot of unkind stories about the NYPD (see: "rape cops," ticket fixing, this) so it is important to give credit for awesomeness where credit is due. And Queens Detective Charles Lopresti deserves a lot. On Sunday afternoon Lopresti reportedly went above and beyond the call of duty to help save the life of 32-year-old flight attendant and mother of two Averie Kenery.

Early on Sunday evening Kenery reportedly swallowed a bottle of pills and called her mother, Beth Walz, in Honolulu to say, "I apologize for what I've done. Tell my kids I love them." Which, naturally, sent Walz into a tizzy. She began frantically calling 911 and police stations but it was impossible for anyone to be dispatched without an exact address and all Walz had was a cross street in Queens. Well, that and her daughter never hung up her cellphone after calling to say goodbye.

Luckily Walz got in touch with Detective Lopresti who took pity on the frantic Hawaiian and agreed to help. "For some reason, he entertained my call," Walz told the News. "Here we are thousands and thousands of miles away, but he listened to us. All we had was the cross street. It wasn't even his jurisdiction."

Lopresti then went about randomly ringing doorbells near where they thought Kenery was dying. Eventually he saw another attendant leaving a building, went in and started pounding on doors and calling out Kenery's name to no avail. That is until his precinct called him. Turns out that Walz was still listening to her daughter's cellphone from Hawaii and could hear Lopresti calling her daughter's name. So the detective broke down the door of the apartment where she could hear him the clearest. However he was still unable to find the woman. So in one final attempt Walz hung up on her daughter and called back, at which point Lopresti found the woman's body, covered in a sheet and "wedged between a bed and a wall."

Kenery was not breathing, but paramedics soon arrived and resuscitated her. Kenery woke from a coma on Wednesday at Jamaica Hospital and should make a full recovery. Hey NYPD? More stories like this please!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on July 21, 2011 3:00 PM

Comments [rss]

Stephen Holding

Equal parts astonishing and uplifting.

mary88grace

Super...NYC is great when it gets a chance.

delicats

Awesome :)

Guest

Now THAT"S a good job!!!!!

hotguy

Wow great work! I feel just like that woman felt!! Getting sick in NYC and going to the NYC hospitals where all they think about is getting my insurance payments is getting me severely depressed, I just hope I won't go the pill route and get revived Like that poor woman! Good Dave though nonetheless!!
At least her kids are probably happy With that!
And yes WTF Is the press reporting on her attempted suicide. They should have more class!

Noreaster76

I don't even know what to say, except that this detective rocks. Nice work, dude. If I ever meet you, the beer's on me.

Adam Moreira

That detective needs at least a citation, if not a raise. He went above and beyond the call of duty.

kimpossibble

The mother didn't know her own daughter's address?

Garth Johnston

Her daughter lives in Hawaii but was staying at a "crash pad" in Queens for flight attendants between flights.

jaycjay

Detective Charles Lopresti of the 103 Squad is certainly a hero who went above and beyond what was required of him.

Too bad it took calls to 911 and trying to get help from "several precincts" before a cop like Detective Lopresti was luckily stumbled across.

hotguy

Yes. It's really amazing!
I wish our healthcare system wasn't so broken
I'm dying of pnemonia and these idiot hospitals keep sending me home even though I need to be In a hospital on antibioycs and I'm just spreading this disease by being released after 1or 2 hours WITHOUT antibiotics!
I hope no one gets sick with pnemonia like me.
If you do make sure you fgo to europe
This place suxx

sharpshoota

What if she really just wanted to die. People should be left to decide on their own. Stupid decision but it should be her own.

Garth Johnston

Okay guys, point taken about the photo (which, in my admittedly weak defense, the Daily News used as well). I've replaced the image with a generic one. Still a great story though.

Terry Ward

thanks for the switch.

(uh oh the Other Interesting Stories thumbnail still has the old pic.)

Kate

Thank you for changing it.

D-B

Emulating the Daily News is not a defense, it's an admission of a lack of any humanist or professional standard.

RumpShaker

I hope the woman can get the help she needs and appreciate her second chance at life.

D-B

This is disgusting, shameless idiocy. I'm sure once the girl is out of the hospital, she'll be really thankful that you posted her photo, name and occupation.