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!
