By Jesse Leavenworth
Hartford Courant
MANCHESTER, Conn. — The town’s police chief and two fire chiefs appeared on a national news show Tuesday morning to talk about a viral video featuring Manchester first responders.
Police Chief Marc Montminy said he, town fire Chief David Billings and Eighth Utilities District fire Chief Don Moore appeared on “Fox & Friends” this morning. They will talk about a video posted on Facebook on Dec. 6 that has attracted 1.3 million views, Montminy said.
Produced by The Silent Partner Marketing, the video features local police officers, firefighters and medics vowing to give their lives, if necessary, in service of others.
“Your family is my family,” the first responders say. “Your life is my duty.”
The video is a response to anti-police messages posted on social media over the past several years, Manchester-based Silent Partner Marketing CEO Kyle Reyes said. Reyes said he wanted to push back against the notion that police and other emergency responders are not the good guys.
“I have seen a tremendous amount of disrespect,” Reyes said. “It’s harder and harder for these people to do their jobs.”
The Manchester video is part of a $500,000 donation of video production and other services that Silent Partner Marketing is offering to first responders throughout the nation, Reyes said. He wrote the script, which includes first responders’ promises never to identify those they serve by race, religion or sexual preference, but only as fellow Americans.
The video shows a police officer donning a bulletproof vest and a firefighter pulling on a coat. It shows an officer patrolling in a cruiser and a line of firefighters climbing stairs wearing their breathing apparatus.
The video ends with several emergency responders saying, “God bless America.”