Police Officers Rescue 5 From Brooklyn Fire

Sept. 24, 2003
Three hero NYPD detectives rushed into a burning Brooklyn building yesterday and saved five people, including a 5-year-old girl.

September 24, 2003 -- Three hero NYPD detectives rushed into a burning Brooklyn building yesterday and saved five people, including a 5-year-old girl.

Edward Vasquez, 37, Dino Anselmo, 37, and Brian Latimore, 44, were hunting for a robber at 10 a.m. when they spotted smoke rising from 344 Ashford St. in East New York.

They got three people out of a first-floor apartment and were told more people lived upstairs. Anselmo and Vasquez went upstairs and knocked down the door, finding the man and his young daughter inside.

The three cops guided them out through a smoke-filled, pitch-black staircase using only a flashlight.

"I didn't do anything that any cop in this precinct wouldn't have done," Vasquez said.

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