In the public safety realm, there are two kinds of first responders — White Clouds, who no matter where they go, or what they do, they always seem to avoid danger, tragedies, crimes, fires and the like. The other is the Black Clouds, and if you ask just about anyone at the Kearny Police Department, Det. Anthony Nunez — yeah, he’s definitely a Black Cloud, and not just because he is a die-hard New York Rangers fan.
But the plus side to his being a Black Cloud is he always seems to be at the right place at the right time.
Such was the case the afternoon of May 26, 2023. That day. Nunez and Det. Sgt. Michael Gomez and Det. John Fabula all went to lunch to celebrate Officer Jordenson Jean’s graduation from the New Jersey State Police’s Crime Scene Investigation school, which was down south somewhere below Exit 117 in Holmdel.
At round 3 p.m., Nunez, realizing the time, knew he had to hit the road because his shift began in an hour — at 4 p.m. He didn’t want to be late. So be started to head north on the Garden State Parkway. Simple enough, right?
Well, it wasn’t.
At all.
Little did he know that decision would be incredibly important for one woman.
About 15 minutes into his northbound journey, Nunez encountered traffic — and, somehow, he witnessed a woman in a Polaris Slingshot vehicle attempt, but fail at, a lane merge that sent her flying into the air at 70 MPH. She landed when she hit a guiderail between the express and local lanes on the Parkway — round mile marker 132.
“I saw about five or six cars pass the woman, but I had to stop,” Nunez said of the ordeal.
So stop he did.
And what he saw was close to unfathomable.
From what he could ascertain, the woman, whom he only knew as “Gail,” had two broken legs, she was screaming in utter agony from the pain she was experiencing — and she was bleeding profusely.
He knew, did Nunez, he was going to have to tie off Gail’s bleeding — otherwise, she was on the road to bleeding out right before his eyes. But that day, he didn’t wear a belt or anything overly strong to use as a tourniquet.
That is, thank God, until he remembered he was wearing a tie that day to go see his friend, Jordy, graduate.
“I took the tie off, wrapped it around the bleeding area and took a pen out of my pocket to put near the bleeding — and in-between the tie,” Nunez said.
And, just like that, the Black Cloud had just about stopped the massive bleeding for the meantime.
Then, thank goodness, a medic showed up — and that first responder later told Nunez his tie-off was perfect. The bleeding had stopped. And the woman was in condition stable enough she could be transported to hospital for further treatment.
For Nunez, it was just another day on the job, even if, in reality, he was off duty at that very moment.
“It was disappointing to see so many people drive right past,” Nunez said. “But I knew I had to stop. She’d have probably been dead if I didn’t make a torniquet. When things like that happen, I am just fully aware that I have to get it done. It’s like I turn into a different person.”
That “person” Nunez turns into is no stranger to being a lifesaver, either.
On his very first day as a cop, his very first shift, he saved a choking baby from suffocating to death.
“Again, I needed to get it done,” he said.
And that is precisely what he did.
And it was like the day he was with his wife were at a Rangers’ game — no one is perfect, mind you — and the pair were out at a pub, postgame. At the bar, a woman collapsed and it turns out she was overdosing. He saved her, too, using chest compressions and sternum rubs.
“When you see someone fall like that, you just move,” Nunez said.
And move he does. In total, that accounts for three lives saved — though the humble man he is, we’re pretty certain there are others Nunez didn’t mention. And we’re pretty certain there will be other saves in the future, too.
Now back to the original story, it was about 3:26 p.m. that day — and Nunez told State Trooper Miguel Guarda, who had arrived on the scene to tend to the accident, what he had just experienced — and then he was on his way north again, en route to Kearny PD Quarters, for his upcoming, 12-hour shift.
Having just experienced this, you’d think maybe he’d ask for the day off. But no, not Nunez. That is not in his DNA.
He says he snapped one photo of the scene — of the mangled mess left behind on the parkway — because he thought his superiors might not believe what he had just been through — again — but it was true and because of it, a life was likely saved. Unfortunately, because he was unable to get her full name, Nunez is not sure if Gail survived, but he at least gave her that chance, a chance that had, until he arrived, seemed to be rapidly slipping away.
“It was just another day at work,” Nunez said.
That’s what he and his colleagues always say.
Except really, in this case, he wasn’t at work. And he was doing something well above and beyond the call.
Then again, for the Black Cloud he is, that is all Anthony Nunez ever seems to do.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.