Double Trouble? No Sweat

NEW YORK CITY

The first time Mike Kenny tried to rescue somebody from bodily harm, two years ago, he got into a lot of trouble. He was kicked, pummeled, pepper-sprayed in the face and charged with assault. He was attempting to protect a co-worker from being brutalized by Port Authority police who objected to Kenny's intervention in a dispute over civilians touring Ground Zero. Eventually, his good deed was vindicated: A jury acquitted him.

Last December, however, Kenny — a shift supervisor with the city's Department of Design and Construction — found himself again taking risks in a rescue effort. This time it involved a two-year-old girl. On the job at a renovation site on the Upper East Side, he heard a woman's screams. Kenny, along with co-workers John Romanowich and Desmond Spillane — all members of Local 375 (DC 37) — rushed in that direction and discovered an abduction in progress. An apparently deranged person tried to snatch a baby from her stroller. As the mother struggled with the would-be abductor for control of the toddler, the trio appeared on the scene in time to prevent a crime.

Romanowich and Spillane pursued the fleeing suspect, who was later apprehended by police. Kenny called an ambulance and took the mother and child to the hospital, where they were soon released.

Kenny points out that the rough treatment he got for intervening two years ago did not enter his mind when he heard those screams. When someone's life is in danger, he says, "Doing nothing is not an option."