The E-Files: ESU ON COPS
A look back at the unit’s appearance on iconic television show
Long resistant to media access, the New York Police Department throughout the 70’s, 80’s, and even into the early 90’s, had rarely made any appearances of note in television media. Weary of bad press following several high-profile incidents, the department had undertaken a bunker mentality, all but closed off to the press & public by extension.
Heading into 1994 however, that changed significantly. With a flashy and flamboyant new Police Commissioner William Bratton, and an equally flashy new Deputy Commissioner of Public Information John Miller, who was a longtime reporter for NBC New York, a new era had begun. No longer did the NYPD push the press away. Not only did they now welcome media access, but they also craved it.
No bigger demonstration of that would present itself than in the summer of 1994, when the New York City Police Department would appear on the groundbreaking FOX television show COPS. Following an episode filmed with the New York City Transit Police that had been filmed in 1993 & aired on January 1, 1994, the NYPD decided they too would hop in on the fun.
Episode 1:
Raids, Rats, Bats, & A Wreck
Segment 1: The Raid
Starting out in the 34th precinct in Harlem, Captain Terence Monahan, (who’d later become the NYPD’s Chief of Department in 2018), leads a briefing of both the precinct’s anti-crime unit and Emergency Service regarding an impending raid on an apartment believed to be a drug den. With everyone on the same page, they headed out. Led by Lieutenant Bob Sobocienski, the ESU contingent would respond in an unmarked van, second in a convoy behind the plainclothes anti-crime squad.
The first to get upstairs, anti-crime shot and killed a fast-charging murderous pit bull that the drug dealers had trained to attack any adversaries, before corralling a few of the suspects on the outside of the apartment. Following directly behind them, the ESU crew from Truck 2 which included Lieutenant Sobocienski, Officers Jim McVey, Pete Conlin, and Bill Lutz flying over from Emergency Service Squad 1, and several others, gained access to the apartment utilizing a percussion grenade (AKA a flash bang). A suspect had been holding down the door prior to the entry and the ensuing explosion would prove that to be a bad decision. Once in, the remaining suspects were arrested. Recovered from the place were numerous firearms, one of which was loaded, and two kilos of cocaine. It was an excellent job by all.
Segment 2: Rat & Bat
After the raid we catch up with the late great Sergeant Pat Murphy, who served in ESU as both a police officer & sergeant. A veteran of Emergency Service Squads 2, 5, & 6, he retired in 2004 and sadly died of 9/11 related illness on August 20, 2014.
He was serving in Harlem’s ESS 2 at the time of the filming of these episodes. A job from patrol over on Amsterdam Avenue and 131st Street comes over the air. The job in question? Patrol needs assistance for a rat in a woman’s bathroom. So frightened was she by the rodent that she called the police!
Assisting Pat with this call were officers Eddie Reyes & John Politoski. “Why do you get all the good jobs! Snakes, pin jobs, what’s up?” they playfully kidded Murphy. “We got a barricaded rat in the bathroom” responded the veteran sergeant. “Hollow door?” asked Politoski. Before long, with the woman’s permission John, armed with an axe, cut through the door. Sneaking an animal noose through the hole they’d carved, Eddie and John attempted the remove the rat, believed to be in the woman’s shower curtains.
Unable to do so, they opened the door and attempted to shoot the rat with a tranquilizer gun. Pesky as ever, the rodent somehow evaded that too. Out of options (and patience), Politoski entered the bathroom. Standing on top of a toilet, he once again attempted to tranquilize the unwanted four leg visitor. Still no dice. “Hold that” said Politoski, referring to his tranquilizer gun before handing it off to an amused Reyes. With the blunt end of the axe, he’d solve the problem the hard way by killing the rat. “He refused to surrender ma’am we had to get drastic” joked Murphy to the woman who made the original call when she asked what happened.
Just a few hours later, Murphy is back at the scene of another animal condition. This time for a bat. Hanging in the corner, Murphy would be assisted on this call by Pete Conlin and Jim McVey. The bat appeared small in nature, but Conlin felt its looks were deceiving. “He might be bigger than you think” the then 10-year veteran and 5-year E-Man told Murphy. Opting to spray the bat with CO2 from a fire extinguisher, the plan backfired. Soon the bat would fly around the apartment, the owner none too pleased!
After several eventful minutes of trying to capture the elusive creature, Conlin made his move and finally cornered it on the couch, getting a firm hold of the nocturnal mammal. Once outside, he released it into the night to fly wherever, the owner of the apartment of which it had invaded, relieved. “It’ll probably end up in someone else’s apartment and we’ll get called back for that,” said Conlin. Two animal calls in the same tour? Just another day for Murphy & company.
Segment 3: The Wreck
In the third and final segment of the episode, we’re along for the ride with Officer Tom Rowe. A 13-year veteran of the force, he discusses what attracted him to policing in the first place when a call comes in for an auto accident with a possible entrapment.
Rushing over behind Queen’s units from Emergency Service Squad 10, the accident involved an overturned vehicle on the intersection of the Long Island Expressway and Clearview Expressway. Pinned in the vehicle quite severely is the driver, identified as Aroldo. A medic, in addition to being a counter sniper in the unit, Rowe guides the men of 10 Truck along as FDNY personnel roll in to assist in the rescue. “He’s clear of the brake pedal!” informs an intensely focused Rowe as Truck 10 Officer Glen Klein works the Hurst tool.
With Ray Denninger alongside him, Rowe assists arriving medics with properly placing a backboard under the injured man who complained to Rowe of back pain. The backboard secured, all lifted the man up on a count of three, and promptly escorted him to a waiting ambulance. He’ll live to tell the tale.
“The thing that made it difficult to get him out was the car was pinned up against a cement wall. That added a little difficulty to the extrication” said Klein. “There’s no two alike. You can learn all the basic rules but when it comes down to it you gotta improvise” added Rowe. The first to arrive at this accident, ESU performed admirably.
Episode 2: Gun Run & Rescues
Segment 1: Shots Fired & A Foot Chase
Episode two begins with Lt. Sobocienski explaining the facets of ESU when an unfounded call comes in for an officer down. Quickly ascertained to be a bogus call, he moves on with his patrol. Later in the evening, a call for a possible shots fired comes over the air. Giving chase, the Lieutenant was the first to take down the suspect, who was winded after running for a few blocks, officers on foot patrol also in hot pursuit.
Finding no firearm on the man who happened to fit the description of the suspect in connection with the original shots fired call, the officers would find drugs however and booked him on those. The main motto of Emergency? Never say no to another cop. Rather they be from patrol or Emergency Service, anyone who knows Lieutenant Sobocienski can tell you he’d always back up a cop. This caught-on-camera moment was just one of many examples.
Segment 2: Jumper?
Over at Truck 2, Lieutenant Mario de la Vega is gathering his gear to head out on a jumper job over on 8th avenue and 35th street. Once there, Sergeant James Poolt provides the rundown on the subject.
Working to gain access to the allegedly disturbed man’s apartment, upon entry, they’d find not a suicidal man in severe emotional distress but a happy hippie who just so happened to be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Woodstock a bit too eagerly.
Stacked with a heavy weed supply and a gun, it went from an Emotionally Disturbed Person job, where a rescue might need to be made, to instead a drug and gun collar. “If he would’ve just talked to us none of this would’ve happened” surmised a frustrated de la Vega after the job.
Segment 3: On Call With Mike Corr
Riding around on a night tour with Detective Mike Corr, the COPS crew in the span of an hour bares witness to two amazing rescues. Just after 9PM is when the first job comes in. Man in the water, the Hudson River to be exact. Off to the races. Corr arrives to an entourage of FDNY firemen, patrol cops, and E-Men from ESS 1 and ESS 2. In the water hauling the disturbed man in to safety is ESS 1’s Ken Winkler.
“Mark are you EDP’ing this guy?!” Corr asks veteran ESS 1 Officer Mark DeMarco. “Yeah!” replies the veteran E-Man. “Going swimming? What are you doing in the water?! It’s raining out you don’t gotta go for a swim!” quips Corr as the mentally unwell man mumbles indiscernible gibberish. “The subject in the water was looking for oil” explains Winkler. Enough said there. A common occurrence in the city and a common successful response from ESU.
Later on, another call comes in for a construction accident where the victim, a construction worker, is impaled on a fence. Arriving at the active scene, Corr teams up with an ambulance crew from the Emergency Medical Service, ESS 1 and 2, and the New York City Transit Police Emergency Rescue Unit. All working together to aid the man. With a spike wrench impaled in his back, all work frantically to free him. With the crane rigged above them being supported by another crane, there is a serious concern of collapse. Noticing the danger, Corr alertly informs Sergeant Pat Murphy of the situation causing all to work even faster.
Successfully freeing the man they rush him off to the hospital. Injured but miraculously alive, the man survives and once again in the span of less than two hours, ESU had made two daring rescues. “Nice job Pete!” Corr says to Officer Pete Conlin. “His only concern”, said Conlin in regards to the injured man, “was that his car wasn’t towed”. Replies a humored Corr: “We’ll take care of that!”
Getting the good work of the department out there to the public is a philosophy the NYPD has embraced more of in recent years, but in 1994 it was still a fairly new approach. Miller had struck gold as DCPI, and getting the department on a show as highly watched as COPS was arguably his magnum opus. These episodes represent a time capsule of a fun era in New York City, and who better to have filmed it with than the unit on the front lines of all the action? On call anytime, anywhere, these episodes of the mid 90’s serve as a snippet of all the great work the Emergency Service Unit did then, and continues to do today.