Secaucus Thanks Police, Firefighters Who Saved Woman And Child

SECAUCUS, NJ — In a moving ceremony Monday night in Buchmuller Park, the town of Secaucus honored the police officers and volunteer firefighters who caught a small child as he escaped from a fire through a window.

As we reported at the time, that fire broke out just before 7:30 p.m. June 24 at the Chateau Gardens apartment complex off Rt. 3.

Secaucus police officers Nicholas Spangenberg, patrolman Jason Mitchell and Detective Aniello Schaffer also saved a 56-year-old woman; the fire started in her apartment. Spangenberg was first on the scene and he ran into the burning ground-floor apartment, which was filled with smoke. He found the 56-year-old woman lying on the floor, unconscious. He pulled her to safety and to this day, she is recovering well.

"When he arrived at the fire, he forced entry and immediately came upon a victim who was severely burned," Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said of Spangenberg. "He dragged her out to safety. Her life is a direct result of their actions."

Other Secaucus police officers and firefighters carried men, women and children out of the smoke-filled apartment building.

But the most dramatic moment came when a mother and father in a second-floor unit directly above where the fire started made the split-second decision to drop their 4-year-old boy from the window, where he was caught by waiting police officers.

The hallway was filled with smoke and smoke was seeping into their apartment, said the boy's mom, Maxine, at the time. Police told them to wait inside for firefighters, but first get the small child to safety. The window was too small to fit an adult through.

"I saw that heart-stopping video. I'm sure it gave a lot of us chills to see them catch that child," said Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez, who was at the Monday night ceremony. "We can’t lose sight of our law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day. So thank you, thank you for all that you do. The officers we are honoring here today: You changed the course of these peoples' lives."

"We are at a time where we don’t have a lot of this, so thank you for the positive news," she added.

Watch the toddler boy being handed from the window:

Initial Patch report: Secaucus Fire: See Video Of Boy, 4, Caught Outside Window (June 25)

The boy's mother spoke to Patch the day after the fire:

"Our apartment was actually filling with smoke. When we told them we had the toddler, the police said throw him down, throw him down,'" she said. "My husband reached as far as he could out the window and two to three officers caught him."

The toddler boy, his mother and father thanked the Secaucus police department Monday night at Buchmuller.

“The night of the fire was a very emotional experience for me as well as my family," said Maxine, in her remarks. "As Chief Miller mentioned, these officers were on the scene before we knew it. We made a difficult decision and entrusted the officers to catch our son. The officers caught our son and were there to talk to us while we waited for the fire department to arrive to help us exit the building. We are so very grateful for these officers and their bravery. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

"This was truly a work of both departments," said Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli. "The courage was fantastic. What they did there was tremendous. Please keep doing it."

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