As a former school teacher, NYPD Officer Alyssa Vogel said she is used to dealing with children on the job.
But she never expected to deal with a little girl getting shot in Times Square.
Vogel didn’t miss a beat Saturday when a gunman opened fire at the Crossroads of the World, wounding three innocent bystanders including the 4-year-old girl.
Vogel was caught on camera sprinting along Broadway with the little girl past the bright lights and bottlenecked cars in the heart of the city’s busiest tourist district.
The girl, Skye Martinez, had been shot in the leg, and Vogel was moving at breakneck speed to get the child to an ambulance.
“I just wanted to help this child get the help she needed,” said Vogel, who had cradled the child like she was carrying one of her own.
It was only six months ago that her own son was born and the experience gave her an instant connection to young Skye.
“Being a new mom, this hit differently,” Vogel said.
Vogel said she heard reports of shots fired at 45th St. and Broadway shortly before 5 p.m. and found cops treating two women who’d been wounded. When they told Vogel a little girl had been shot up the block, she and her partner went into track star mode.
Another officer was helping Skye when Vogel arrived but he needed a tourniquet to stabilize her leg wound, she said. Vogel had one on her gun belt and tied it around the girl’s leg to stem the bleeding.
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She made sure the girl wasn’t shot anywhere else then sprinted off with the girl in her arms.
Body cam video also showed her applying the tourniquet before lifting her and dashing down the street.
“Whether they’re rushing toward the danger to help save a little girl or rushing home to family after their tour this #MothersDay — the dedication of NY’s Finest knows no bounds,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said in a tweet he posted along with a video of Vogel’s daring dash.
Whether they’re rushing toward the danger to help save a little girl or rushing home to family after their tour this #MothersDay — the dedication of NY’s Finest knows no bounds.
pic.twitter.com/fMM384Mb7O— Deputy Commissioner John Miller (@NYPDDCPI) May 9, 2021
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Officials said the shooting victims were each in stable condition including a 23-year-old tourist from Rhode Island who was shot in the leg and a 43-year-old woman from New Jersey who was shot in the foot.
Vogel rode in the ambulance with Skye and her worried mom.
“She is the strongest and bravest person I’ve come across and I hope her daughter has a full recovery,” Vogel said of the mom.
Among the cops singing Vogel’s praises were members of her own family. Her husband and brother are on the force and her father is a retired police officer.
“I will be the first to say that I was just doing my job,” Vogel said. “But I’m grateful that people see me as a hero.”