The Police Department and MIKES for Manville organized the event.
By: Donna Lukiw
As schools and many businesses were closed Monday, 47 people still came out to donate blood in honor of New York City police officer and Manville High School graduate Eric Hernandez, including Cynthia Salichs, Mr. Hernandez’s mother.
MIKES for Manville President Ray Walsh said out of the 47 people who came out to donate blood at the Veterans Foreign Wars Post 2290 on Washington Street, 41 of them were accepted.
"Anytime you pass 30 pints of blood at a blood drive, that’s a good number," Mr. Walsh said.
The Manville Police Department and MIKES for Manville organized the blood drive for the wounded police officer in late January and decided to still hold the drive after he died on Feb. 8.
Fred Winters, a spokesman for St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City where Officer Hernandez was taken after being shot three times in the abdomen and legs on Jan. 28, said Officer Hernandez had received over 200 pints of blood. A human body only contains about 8 pints of blood.
As nurses and donor specialists were taking blood and monitoring the donors’ blood pressure, Manville High School students spent their day off volunteering at the blood drive.
"It’s for Eric and it’s a very good cause," senior Katelyn Nyle said Monday.
The student volunteers were responsible for pouring juice and escorting the donors to the juice and cookies after giving blood.
Teachers, Borough Council members, Manville Chief of Police Mark Peltack, Manville police officers, and Officer Hernandez’s former football coach Steve Venuto were among those who contributed at the blood drive.
"Eric was a former student of mine," Mr. Venuto said. "That’s why I’m here."
According to the New York Police Department, Officer Hernandez was inside White Castle on Webster Avenue in New York City when a group of men assaulted him. White Castle workers called 911 and when police from the 46th Precinct arrived, they found Officer Hernandez in the parking lot of White Castle pointing a gun at one of the men who had assaulted him, police officials said.
Not realizing that he was a police officer, the uniformed officers told Officer Hernandez to put the gun down. Officer Hernandez did not respond and was shot once in each leg and once in the stomach by a police officer.
Officer Hernandez, who graduated from Manville High School in 1999 and from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., four years later, became a New York City police officer assigned to the 52nd Precinct in July 2004.
While at Manville High School, Officer Hernandez was a running back on the school’s football team for four years.
Drew Corsilli, who graduated from MHS in 2000 and played high school football with Officer Hernandez, said his former teammate was a role model for him.
"He won a championship in college and it inspired me to play in college," Mr. Corsilli said. "We’ve played football together since sixth grade."
Mr. Corsilli, who said he lost touch with Officer Hernandez about a year ago, recalled that he had heard from some of his friends about Officer Hernandez’s first day on the job as a New York City policeman.
"He ran some thieves down on his first day on the job," Mr. Corsilli said. "That’s typical of Eric. He was successful in whatever he did. He’s intelligent, he’s assertive and you put that together with his athletics and he makes a pretty good cop."