Bravest’s fatal fall
Firefi ghter plummets to death while responding to crash on M’Basin Bridge
COURIER LIFE, J DT AN. 11–17, 2019 47
LEGAL NOTICE
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A fi refi ghter plunged to his
death on Jan. 6 while trying to
save the victims of a car crash
on the Belt Parkway’s new Mill
Basin Bridge.
New York’s Bravest Steven
Pollard — who served as a probationary
fi refi ghter with Canarsie’s
Ladder Company 170
— took his fatal fall just after
10 pm, when his crew rushed
to the scene of the two-car collision
on the span near Floyd
Bennett Field, according to the
Fire Department.
Pollard, a 30-year-old Marine
Parker, plummeted 52 feet
after slipping through a threefoot
gap in the bridge, which
he tried to cross from its Bay
Ridge–bound side in order to
help two men injured in the
crash on the span’s Queensbound
side.
Following his fall, paramedics
rushed the fi refi ghter to
Kings County Hospital, where
doctors pronounced him dead.
And on Monday, Mayor De-
Blasio and Fire Commissioner
Daniel Nigro mourned the
young hero, whose death they
called especially tragic because
it occurred as he approached
just two years on the job.
“Pollard just started out,
only a year and a half as a member
of the FDNY,” DeBlasio said
during a press conference at the
hospital.
The cars collided after one
of the two drivers lost control
of his four-wheeler on black ice,
hit the parkway’s guard rail,
fl ipped over, and hit the other
vehicle, according to a Police
Department spokeswoman.
Both drivers sustained
non-life threatening injuries,
and responders brought one
to Brookdale Hospital, while
the other sought treatment
at Mount Sinai Hospital, the
spokeswoman said.
The new Mill Basin Bridge
recently opened to traffi c after
years of construction, as part of
a $365-million federal- and cityfunded
project to rebuild the
seven spans linking Brooklyn
to Queens’s John F. Kennedy
Airport, which began in 2009.
Its 1940-built predecessor of
the same name is set to be completely
demolished by the end of
the year, according to a spokeswoman
for the Department of
Transportation, which is overseeing
the replacement project.
There was ongoing construction
on the bridge at the
time of Pollard’s death, and the
Fire Department is looking into
whether that work played into
the incident, according to Nigro.
“There is construction in
that area. So we will fi nd out if
that was a factor,” he said.
Nigro also expressed condolences
for Pollard’s family,
some of whom served the city
alongside their fallen kin, including
his father Ray — who
spent 30 years with Bedford-
Stuyvesant’s Ladder Company
102 before retiring — and his
brother Ray Jr., a current member
of Sunset Park’s Ladder
Company 114.
“All we can do as a department
is stand beside the family
and give them whatever support
we can, and ask for the
prayers of everyone in this city
for his father, retired fi refi ghter
Ray Pollard, his brother Ray
Jr., and for their mom and the
rest of their extended family for
this terrible loss,” the commissioner
said.
And leaders of a local dogood
organization that assists
families of fi rst responders
killed in the line of duty pledged
to donate $25,000 to Pollard’s
next of kin in honor of his and
his relatives’ service.
“Steven Pollard comes from a
family of fi refi ghters who served
and continue to serve this city so
well. Our heartfelt thoughts and
prayers go out to his loved ones,”
said Rachel Trotta, a rep for the
NY Police and Fire Widows’ and
Children’s Benefi t Fund. “We
will never forget Steven’s bravery
and sacrifi ce.”
Pollard’s death came just
weeks after another fi refi ghter
died on the Belt Parkway. Last
month, cops cuffed a man for
allegedly killing off-duty Coney
Island fi refi ghter Faizal
Coto amid an apparent bout of
deadly road rage after the two
collided while merging onto the
road, according to offi cials.
GONE TOO SOON: Firefi ghter Steven
Pollard (right) plummeted to his
death through a gap between the
Bay Ridge– and Queens-bound sides
of the new Mill Basin Bridge (above)
while trying to save victims of a
crash on the span. FDNY