New York Police bought plane ticket for Jordana Judson (a friend of a victim) following Parkland shooting

[jnelsoninjax]

Jordana Judson heard the news that a family friend was killed in the Parkland school shooting near her childhood home. She jumped in a Lyft and raced over to New York’s LaGuardia Airport thinking it might be easier to buy a ticket and get on a flight home if she was there in person.

When her ride dropped her off at the airport early Thursday morning, Judson, 23, stood on the curb sobbing for a moment thinking about her family friend, Meadow Pollack, 18, and her former high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the site of the deadly rampage.

“She was hysterically crying. We approached her and asked if she was all right,” said New York State Trooper Thomas Karasinski, 26. “She wasn’t able to get a lot of words out, but she was talking about the shooting in Florida.”

Karasinski and his partner, Trooper Robert Troy, who were on duty patrolling the curbside area of the airport, pointed the distraught Judson toward the ticket counter.

Judson made her way inside, and a ticket agent told her a one-way flight that would get her to Meadow’s vigil later that day would cost $700, an expense she couldn’t afford. She called her mother and cried into the phone.

With the phone pressed against her cheek, she looked up and saw the two troopers who had helped her outside by the curb. They were handing the ticket agent their credit cards to pay for her flight.

“I said, ‘You don’t need to do that,’ ” Judson said. “ ‘I can’t let this happen.’ ”

They said: “It’s done. Go be with your family.”

Judson, who works in public relations in New York, said she could barely fathom their generosity and didn’t know what to say. She gave them both a hug.
State Trooper Robert Troy. (New York State Police)
New York State Trooper Thomas Karasinski. (New York State Police)

Karasinski said it was the first day he’d ever worked with Troy, 27, and the two didn’t discuss paying for Judson’s ticket. They just assessed the situation, and each reached for his wallet to pay for the ticket, which had been lowered to $600.

Actually, Karasinski said, Troy, who has been on the force for two years, reached in his pocket about a second ahead of Karasinski.

“He went first for his wallet, and I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed my credit card as well,” Karasinski said. “The ticket agent was shocked for a second. Jordana looked up and was in shock.”

She then thanked them profusely, Karasinski said, while still crying. “She was in a terrible state,” he said.

Karasinski, who has been with the force for three years, said he’d never paid for someone’s plane ticket before. But helping people is not new for him.

[Teen survived shooting at Florida high school. His mother survived a mass shooting last year.]

“Going above and beyond is what we do,” said Karasinski, who is from New York. “It might sound cliche, but that’s what we do. Every day we try to find someone to help.”

Judson made it home just in time to get to the vigil for Meadow, who was a senior.

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[bmelans2]

Thank you for submitting this, reading it made my day. I hate the stereotype that police, troopers etc are all out to "get you" and the common "f- the police" and other hatred toward them. The good cops serve and protect. The extraordinary cops go above and beyond like this for many  citizens and this is only 1 story we're hearing right now but many others exist.