Sgt. Juan Gonzalez
NEWARK — Newark police Sgt. Juan Gonzalez knew time was running out as the suspect flailed and went under the frigid waters of the Passaic River.
Minutes earlier on Tuesday night, police say Amir Sinclair Copeland, 24, of Newark, jumped off a 6-foot wall into the river after fleeing from officers who chased him in a stolen minivan.
Gonzalez said the man who ran from police appeared to be drowning approximately 40 feet from the shoreline, near McCarter Highway and Center Street.
“[Copeland] turned around and started heading back toward our direction, and he just started flailing in the water,” Gonzalez said in an interview Friday. “He went under once. We were coaxing him back in, telling him to come back. He took a couple more strokes and went under again.”
The sergeant took off his boots, his police belt, emptied his pockets and plunged into the murky river after Copeland.
“I knew by the time you get a boat out there it’s going to be too late,” he added.
With the suspect becoming submerged in the river, Gonzalez explained how he immediately swam toward a spot where he saw bubbles.
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“We saw the bubbles coming up so I just made my way toward the bubbles and that’s how I was able to grab him,” the sergeant said.
When he reached Copeland, the sergeant said he found the man in desperate need of help.
“I could literally hear the water in his lungs and his mouth, it was coming out of his nose and his mouth,” Gonzalez added. “His eyes were as white as saucers.”
“I’ve been doing this job for 20 years and I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve seen a lot of people die,” the sergeant said. “You could just see the life going out of his eyes. You just knew that any longer there he would have went under and he would have stayed under.”
Gonzalez initially tussled with Copeland, who pulled on him in the water, according to police.
“I think it was just basic survival instincts. He just grabbed me,” Gonzalez added. “He wasn’t being combative or anything.”
Police units converged on the shore and lit up the water with flashlights as a fast-moving rescue effort unfolded. Copeland, grabbed by his belt, was shoved up to safety. Someone threw out a detective’s tie as a help line to the water.
Gonzalez, who served in the U.S Marine Corps, considered himself a good swimmer, but admitted the Passaic River, with overnight surface temperatures in the mid-30s, was a challenge. He felt cramps throughout his body during the five to eight minute rescue, battled the currents covered in river muck and was treated for hypothermia and pneumonia.
“When I jumped in the water it was just a big shock,” said Gonzalez. “Like sticking your finger in wall socket, it took everything from me.”
The police division’s Emergency Services Unit lowered a ladder as part of the rescue and an officer dangled over the edge while Gonzalez managed to grab an officer’s arm.
Both Copeland and Gonzalez were taken to University Hospital, where they were briefly reunited when the sergeant stopped in for a visit. Copeland, he said, at first didn’t know who saved him.
“He just wanted to thank me, he seemed very genuine when he thanked me,” Gonzalez added. “He said that he would die and he didn’t know why he did it, he apologized and was just really thankful.”
The sergeant also said he took a thank you call from Copeland’s mother at the North Ward’s 2nd police precinct.
Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose commended Gonzalez for his “courageous and selfless” actions.
“Jumping into the icy Passaic River, swimming out to save the suspect and pulling him to safety is nothing short of heroic,” the public safety director said.
For Gonzalez, the fact that Copeland was a fleeing suspect with a history of arrests made no difference, and the sergeant credited fellow officers with helping by relaying information over the police radio.
“It wasn’t about me going out there and him being a suspect. None of that crossed my mind at the time,” the sergeant said. “I was just watching this kid go under. Somebody had to do something.”
Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc and on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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