No Back Up

The hoodlum burst into the small south Bronx restaurant on a sweltering summer night, startling the patrons and employees as he yelled “Everyone freeze”, while waving a cocked, silver semi automatic pistol in the air.  The cook behind the counter slowly raised his hands, while the manager was ordered to empty the register and the customers sat in front of their suddenly interrupted meals petrified in their seats.

This criminal was a nervous amateur stick up man at best and waved the gun erratically. Seemingly out of control, as his eyes played around the room towards each of the ten or so people who expected the worst. The hoodlum was so twitchy that as the cash register rang and drawer popped open, his gun went off.  It had been pointed towards the cook across the white bar type counter and all he saw was a slow motion flash as he felt the heat of a .380 slug tear through his neck. The bullet exited, then lodged in the wall behind him. As a stream of blood spurted out, arching about four feet, spattering the counter and floor.

The thief grabbed the cash then fled the restaurant on foot, as the cook lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground. The manager rushed toward the phone to call for an ambulance, while the patrons treated the wounded man as best they could. Then the 911 operator informed the caller that there was no ambulance available at this time, on that near fatal summer night.

A couple of people put the chef in a car, and drove him to Jacoby Hospital. Because God works in strange ways he survived and wound up leaving under his own power. This chef’s name is Sy Collins, and little did he know he was destined to return to Jacoby in the near future. Only this time it would be to study emergency medical responses at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, a mere two hundred feet from the ER he had previously exited. Sy would go on to have a long career in EMS that was both glorious and heartbreaking. And now, his story will be told.