The only bright spot in Wednesday’s horrific drama at City Hall was the quick thinking of plainclothes NYPD Officer Richard Burt, who fatally shot gunman Othniel Askew, likely preventing an even greater tragedy. Fittingly, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly promoted Burt, a nine-year NYPD veteran, to detective — swearing him in at a City Hall ceremony. As all those around him began to scream and flee in panic when Askew opened fire at City Councilman James Davis, Burt quite calmly pulled out his Glock 9 mm and squeezed off six rounds. Five of the shots hit home, dropping the gunman. Then he rushed to the side of City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, to whose security details he’d been assigned just two days earlier.
"There was one person who kept his head" during all the chaos, said Miller. Though Detective Burt’s actions came too late to protect Councilman Davis, it’s very likely that he saved other innocent lives on Wednesday. As Commissioner Kelly said, "He put his life at risk in order to protect others and, by doing so, represents the best of the New York Police Department."
For his part, Richard Burt modestly insists he did nothing special. "I don’t consider myself a hero," he said. "I just did my job." And quite well, too.
Amen. |