Father reflects on impact of suicide on the NYPD force after son's death
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The Police Benevolent Association is honoring a group of NYPD officers who came face-to-face with an armed criminal in Brooklyn in 2022.
However, all but one of the officers are alive today to accept the award.
Officer Colin Rossiter died months after the gunfight. His father accepted the award on his behalf Monday and sat down with Eyewitness News to talk about suicide on the force.
Some people never figure out their passion, but for Rossiter, it was obvious from a young age.
Keith Rossiter now looks at his son in uniform with pride as a retired NYPD sergeant. One look at Colin's family of cops and his career choice makes all the sense in the world - unlike his death.
"I am still trying to make sense of it and it starts every morning as soon as I wake up," Rossiter said.
Colin Rossiter was only on the job for seven months when he got into a shootout before he could even get out of his patrol car.
Jermaine Hickson stood in the street, threatening his girlfriend with a gun. As soon as police pulled up, he opened fire. Colin Rossiter used his passenger door as a shield.
"One of the aspects of the shooting that bothered him a lot was the rounds hitting his police vehicle, the glass breaking, and he could actually feel the impacts," Keith Rossiter said.
Officer Rossiter and his fellow cops survived the night of November 10, 2022 after shooting and killing the gunman, but the psychological damage to Colin would be far worse than what his father expected.
"He confided in me that he kept having reoccurring thoughts of what had happened to him," Rossiter said.
The nightmares about the near-death experience drove the happy-go-lucky 22-year-old into a dark place. But no one realized just how dark until it was too late.
"I was awoken to a gunshot, it took me a couple seconds to realize what I just heard, I ran to Colin's room," Keith Rossiter said. "And I knew what I was going to encounter once I got that door open. And when I did Colin was gone."
Colin died by suicide in March of 2023. The NYPD bolstered its mental health support after an eye-opening 10 officer suicides in 2019 alone.
But Rossiter said more needs to be done - starting with the city recognizing suicide as a "line of duty" death.
"We're just ordinary people and society expects us to go out and do extraordinary things to save society from themselves," he said. "And sadly some of them get lost in their mental health. And this would provide acknowledgement to their legacy."
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises please call or text the new three-digit code at 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
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