Unusual Situations & Noteworthy EVENTS

  On March 27, 2012, retired Sergeant Paul was relaxing in seat 7C aboard Jet Blue Flight 191, which had departed Kennedy Airport for Las Vegas. He was on his way to a security convention. Approximately one hour from Las Vegas, a well-built man dressed in a pilot’s uniform ran past Paul yelling, “They’re going to get us.” Moments later, the man was pounding on the cockpit door attempting to gain entrance.

The retired sergeant, who served with the NYPD from 1982 to 2004, initially thought the man was a terrorist. While many of the passengers blocked the aisle, he climbed his way through the plane until he was within reach of the man in the pilot’s uniform. It wasn’t until sometime later that Paul learned that the man was actually the plane’s pilot, who had been locked out of the cockpit by the co-pilot when he started acting in a potentially dangerous and erratic manner. After assessing the situation, Paul coordinated the actions of some of the other passengers to control the man until the plane made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas. After obtaining a pair of handcuffs from a responding airport police officer, he helped cuff the man and then breathed a deep, long-awaited sigh of relief. Despite receiving numerous accolades from passengers on the plane and from members of the news media, Paul stated that he does not consider himself a hero.

Paul indicated that his NYPD patrol and supervisory training and experience, especially in regard to handling emotionally disturbed persons, prepared him for this unforeseen and dangerous airborne occurrence. When all was said and done, thankfully no one was seriously injured, the pilot was taken into custody by federal authorities and the passengers resumed their journey several hours later on a different airplane. During his 22 years of service with the NYPD, he served in many diverse commands. Upon retiring, he started and is CEO of PGB Executive Investigations, Inc.

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As an active member of the NYPD's REM and SHIELD, I attended Active Shooter training provided by the New York City Police Department's Counter-terrorism Bureau.  This training provided great insight when conducting threat analysis and penetration assessment site surveys in corporate and residential properties where a would-be active shooter may seek hostages or take innocent lives.