By Roni Jacobson
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Two NYPD officers who played a critical role in preventing the ISIS-inspired mayhem outside Gracie Mansion Saturday from becoming a potentially deadly terror attack deserved special commendation, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Monday.
Emir Balat, 18, who lobbed an improvised explosive device into a crowd of protesters, was about to throw another handed to him by Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, when NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards jumped over an iron barrier and tackled him to the ground in a scene captured on cellphone video.
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Sergeant Luis Navarro meanwhile ran towards the second improvised explosive device dropped on the ground by Balat as it was lit and smoking, Tisch said.
Mamdani publicly thanked the two officers and others on scene, who “faced a chaotic situation that very quickly could have become far more dangerous.”
“That is courage, that is selflessness, and I am deeply grateful to both of them and to every member of the NYPD who works every single day to keep New Yorkers safe,” the mayor said.
He thanked Edwards and Navarro in private yesterday, he said.
Balat and Kayumi are facing federal terrorism charges in the attack.
Edwards had just been promoted to borough chief of Manhattan, North in December after nearly 23 years as an NYPD officer. He was inspired to become a police officer after witnessing the heroism of NYPD officers during Sept. 11, according to Tisch.
“We saw that same spirit carried forward in the way that he responded,” at the protest on Saturday, Tisch said.
Navarro, who has been on the force for 11 years, grew up between Puerto Rico and New York, eventually settling in Washington Heights in the Bronx. He joined the NYPD after a close friend encouraged him to take the exam, Tisch said.
Navarro risked his life running for the lit improvised explosive dropped by Balat on the west side of East End Avenue, between East 86th and East 87th streets, “without hesitation and without regard for (his) own safety,” Tisch said.
Edwards, 44, started working at the NYPD in 2003. Before he was promoted to Assistant Chief at Patrol Borough Manhattan North, Edwards worked in the NYPD’s office of public information.
For most of his career he has worked in Manhattan, including a stint in the organized crime bureau in the 17th precinct on the east side of Manhattan, which includes Kipps Bay and Murray Hill, and in the Narcotics unit in Midtown south, which encompasses Times Square, Grand Central Terminal, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
Last month the NYPD Guardians Association, a fraternal organization of black officers, awarded Edwards the distinction of being “man of the year.”
Navarro was also promoted to his current rank last December, according to police records. Like Edwards he served in the NYPD’s office of public information, as well as on patrol in Manhattan after starting his career in 2015.
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