NWS NYPD Craig Sikorski

Off-duty NYPD Officer Craig Sikorski of the 9 Precinct is credited with assisting a TBTA officer in saving a man who was about to jump from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on the night of Thursday, May 12, 2016. (Courtesy of NYPD)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An off-duty NYPD officer and a Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority officer risked their own lives to rescue a man who was about to jump from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, authorities say.

Officer Craig Sikorski, 26, who public records indicate lives in New Dorp, is credited with grabbing the 27-year-old man and pulling him away from the edge of the span while the potential jumper was distracted by a TBTA officer. Sikorski achieved that feat even though the man was wearing a backpack loaded down with a 50-pound weight, police say.

The drama unfolded at about 9:10 p.m. on Thursday as Sikorski was driving east on the lower level of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge en route to work at the 6th Precinct that protects Manhattan's Greenwich and West villages, according to a statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Sikorski noticed that a TBTA police car, with its flashing lights on, was following a slow moving Chevy Cruze that then pulled over to the side of the road.

The 27-year-old driver left his car and ran toward the side of the bridge. The man put one leg over the wall while wearing the weighted backpack, according to police.

Sikorski and the TBTA police officer stepped out of their vehicles and spoke with the man who seemed to be despondent, police said.

As the 27-year-old man's attention was directed toward the TBTA officer, Sikorski grabbed the potential jumper and pulled him to safety, according to police.



EMS also responded and transported the rescued man to Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn for evaluation.

Sikorski, a member of the NYPD since 2011, grew up on Staten Island, according to Advance records.

The officer for the TBTA declined to have his name published.