Monday, March 30, 2009
4 STATEN ISLAND GRAD STUDENTS HELP RETIRED COP
By MAURA GRUNLUND
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Wagner College wants Staten Islanders to know about the good deed of students Nick Bove, Raymond Masucci, Nikos Zaires and David Zielinski. (Pictured at left are Zielinski, Zaires and Bove.)
The students in the Accelerated MBA program at the college were returning to their Grymes Hill apartment from class one afternoon in February when they heard someone calling for help through a window that was slightly open, said Dr. Joseph D. Smith, an associate professor of religion at Wagner, in an e-mail to the Advance.
The students went over to the window and asked if someone needed help. The man inside, James Reid, said that he did and that they could enter through an unlocked door.
The students walked into the apartment and found the retired police officer lying on the floor. He had been there for about five hours.
The students lifted him off the floor and also summoned emergency help. Reid declined to go to the hospital.
He had another falling episode about an hour later and was stranded on his floor alone overnight. After being rescued by apartment management, he went to the hospital and died on Feb. 9.
“The four Wagner graduate students who came to their neighbor’s aid responded well and immediately to his crisis and I felt the community should know,” Dr. Smith wrote.
“These students are very fine persons and good neighbors.”
Dr. Smith knew Reid well, and said the retired police officer’s sister, Marianne Reid, and close friends appreciated the students’ efforts.
There will be a memorial for Reid on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at a private home at 591 Bement Ave. Anyone wishing to attend is asked to call 718-981-0262.
Wagner students make ‘Good News’ headlines
April 2, 2009
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