Brooklyn Firefighter Killed Trying To Save Crash Victims: FDNY

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- A Brooklyn firefighter was killed when he fell from the Mill Basin Bridge while trying to save two victims of a car crash, officials said.

Steven H. Pollard, 30, fell about 52 feet when he slipped through a gap on the Belt Parkway drawbridge near Flatbush Avenue at about 10 p.m. Sunday night, according to a joint statement from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.

"We lost a good, young man last night," said Mayor de Blasio, after visiting Pollard's family at Kings County Hospital. "[Pollard] was trying to protect people as he had devoted his life to ... this was particularly painful."

Ladder Company 17 firefighters were rushing from the eastbound Belt Parkway lanes onto an elevated portion of the westbound side, where one car had flipped over and seriously injured two men inside, when Pollard fell through the 3-foot gap, according to officials.

(Keep up with NYC events and news by subscribing to the Brooklyn Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

How Pollard slipped is still under investigation, but ice and construction on the Mill Basin Bridge may both have contributed to his death, according to Commissioner Nigro.

A gap separates the twin spans of the Mill Basin Bridge, Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Probationary firefighter as Steven Pollard fell to his death trying to cross between the two spans while responding to a car crash on the Belt Parkway Sunday night. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Emergency responders rushed Pollard to Kings County Hospital but doctors were unable to save his life, officials said.

The cause of death was multiple blunt impact injuries, according to the Medical Examiner's office.

Pollard was the son of 32-year FDNY veteran Raymond Pollard and his wife Janet, and the brother of Ladder Company 114 firefighter Raymond Pollard, said officials.

"What makes this even more painful is this a family that has served our city for decades," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "This is a family that has done so much for New York City and now they're going through this loss."

Pollard joined jointed the FDNY in June 2017.

“To lose a courageous young Firefighter just beginning his career like this is devastating to our entire Department,” said Commissioner Nigro.

“Firefighter Steven Pollard bravely sought to help others. As his family mourns him, the Department mourns him, and certainly the citizens of our city mourn him as well.”

He is the 1,151st FDNY member to die on duty, officials said. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The New York Police & Fire Widows' & Children's Benefit Fund has pledged a $25,000 donation to Pollard's family.

Header photo courtesy of the FDNY