By Vinny Vella
The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — Josibelk Aponte considers herself lucky. Few people get to meet their guardian angels.
Aponte has a special place in her heart for retired Hartford police detective Peter Getz, who stood with her, beaming as if she were his own child, in the XL Center Tuesday as she graduated magna cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University.
“There are only a few moments that are so important in life,” Aponte said. “I wanted to share my graduation with everyone who’s important to me, who have been there for me, and who helped me through tough times.”
Getz certainly fits that description: He first crossed paths with Aponte on June 25, 1998, a day the 23-year-old describes as “best and worst day” of her life.
“I almost died, but I was given a second chance at life,” she said. “And it was because of Peter and all the authorities, everyone who came to help that day.”
Then/Now. #HPDproud #HPDHELPS pic.twitter.com/CRTVgq8kY2
— D/C Foley (@LtFoley) May 18, 2016
A fire in the Aponte family’s apartment on Washington Street broke out as Josibelk Aponte, then five years old, was home with her uncle Jofrey. Her memory of that afternoon is fragmented, flashes of recollection that survived the ordeal.
She can envision the thick smoke filling the room and trying, in vain, to wake up Jofrey. Then, darkness.
Meanwhile, Getz, a patrolman, was rushing to the scene. He got there in time to see a firefighter pull a small girl from the building. In his rush to get back inside to stamp out the flames, the firefighter thrust Aponte into Getz’s arms.
Medics hadn’t arrived yet. Time was running out. Aponte had gone into cardiac arrest, Getz said.
“I did what I was trained to do, what I had to do,” he said.
Those crucial moments were captured by Courant photographer Al Chaniewski, who snapped a picture of the unresponsive Aponte in Getz’s arms. It’s a frantic frame, showing the officer tearing off his sunglasses in his haste to save her.
Getz crammed his 6-foot-5 frame into the back of his patrol car and initiated CPR as his partner sped toward Hartford Hospital. By the time Getz passed her off to the emergency room staff, Aponte was breathing on her own.
“I’m one cog in that wheel, from the dispatchers, to the firefighters who risked their lives to go in and bring her out,” Getz said. “We all did what [we were] trained to do that day; it’s not just about me. That’s how this process is supposed to work, that’s why we wear [the] uniforms we wear.”
Aponte woke up hours later, surrounded by her family and the first responders who saved her. They would be a common sight in the days to come.
Getz and his colleagues organized aid for the family, getting Bob’s Furniture to donate items and raising money to help bring the remains of Jofrey — who succumbed to his injuries days later — home to Venezuela.
Aponte said she still has the teddy bear that Getz gave her during her hospital stay.
“It’s one of those things that touches your heart and stays with you,” said Getz, now an investigator with Aetna. “It’s a situation that we could control, that we could foresee the outcome of. The firemen did their job, I did my job, the hospital staff did their job. As a result, we still have a beautiful young woman still on the face of the Earth.”
As time passed, Getz kept tabs on Aponte as her family moved to Vernon, but he was unsure if he should reach out to her, if she’d even want him to.
About two years ago, Aponte contacted him out of the blue through Facebook.
“Every once in a while I get nostalgic and I want to know what happened,” Aponte said. “So I did what everyone does: I Googled my name.”
Her research turned up an article that identified Getz, and through some “Facebook stalking,” she found him.
The two get together regularly, sometimes meeting for lunch. They talk about Getz’s kids, his dog, how Aponte is doing in school.
Now, with a degree in accounting and a job at Walston & Ignagni in South Windsor, the conversations have turned to her plans for the future.
“To see the outcome, to see how successful she’s been, makes my heart beat faster,” Getz said.
And for her savior, Aponte has nothing but gratitude.
“Not many people can or are willing to put themselves in danger to save others,” she said. “It’s because of people like Peter and all of our police officers and firefighters that I’m alive.”
Copyright 2016 The Hartford Courant