Cops Make Daring, High-Altitude Rescue Near George Washington Bridge: Police

The assignment was a tough one: take a suspected drug dealer into custody and save his life in the process.

That’s the tricky dilemma that the Port Authority Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit (ESU) faced during a daring, high-altitude rescue that took place Sunday evening near the George Washington Bridge, authorities said.

According to the Port Authority Police Department, members of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police Department were purchasing narcotics in a stairway off Hudson Terrace in Fort Lee with Anthony Lora, 22, of Bronx, N.Y., when Lora took off running through the woods, jumped the fence and climbed down a sheer cliff face off River Road just north of the George Washington Bridge about 50 feet below the roadway, where he got stuck and was left “dangerously clinging to the face of the cliff.”

That’s when the Port Authority ESU got the call, authorities said.

Putting their high-angle rescue training to work, the officers set up a lowering and hauling system for a two-person team, then lowered themselves down the cliff to a safe position to make contact with Lora, who was threatening to jump from the cliff, police said.

“The rescue officers negotiated with [Lora] for about 20 minutes, eventually gaining his trust and getting him to comply… all while hanging from their lines,” Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.

• PHOTOS: What Are These Cops Doing On The George Washington Bridge?

After their high-altitude conversation, the officers reached an agreement with Lora, then lowered themselves within reach, placed him in a harness and raised him to the top of the cliff, where he was promptly taken into custody and turned over to the Palisades Interstate Parkway police, Pentangelo said.

Palisades Interstate Parkway police charged Lora with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and Ecstasy and resisting arrest; additional charges are pending, authorities said.

Lora was also wanted on armed robbery charges from the New York Police Department, authorities stated.

Photos: Port Authority Police Department