A 20-year NYPD veteran testified Monday how he risked life and limb to rescue a woman who climbed up the base of the Statue of Liberty on July 4 in protest of President Trump’s immigration policies.
Detective Brian Glacken of the NYPD’s elite emergency services unit took the witness stand at Therese “Patricia” Okoumou‘s non-jury trial and walked the judge through the dangers he and his team faced collecting the protester from her perilous perch, which resulted in the entire island being evacuated on one of its busiest days.
The rescue was “difficult due to the fact that there were not a lot of places to hold on to or hang on to,” he told the judge.
In one video introduced as evidence, he could be seen leading the way to Okoumou along a very thin ledge by the giant statue’s feet. The men were tethered to ropes at the time, but the lines likely wouldn’t have helped due to their position, he said.
“With my weight, it’d probably snap and slow me down for a second before hitting the ground,” he told the judge.
The judge was also shown a separate photo of Glacken, who ultimately pounced on Okoumou and tied her to a rescue rope, standing on a thin ledge near where Okoumou was sitting. The NYPD detective explained to the judge that he was standing there — and not on the ladder next to him — because Okoumou had threatened to push his ladder down.
But Glacken stayed calm and tried to talk Okoumou into letting him help her down.
“I talked to her about my life. I told her I have a wife and she probably wouldn’t be happy to know I was up here right now,” he said light-heartedly, generating a laugh from the crowd.
Okoumou has been charged with multiple misdemeanors for her Independence Day stunt, including trespassing, interference with government agency functions and disorderly conduct.
She took the stand briefly Monday and cried as she testified on her desire to speak out against the detention and separation of immigrant children from their parents.
She said this policy haunted her, giving her “nightmares and night sweats.”
“I wanted to send a strong statement,” she said of her climb. “That children do not belong in cages.”
When asked by her lawyer, Okoumou said she would do it all over again.
“Somebody has to take a stand and say it’s inhuman and it’s cold,” she said, her voice cracking.
The judge overseeing the trial said he could rule before the end of the day Monday.
Okoumou could be sentenced to a few months in prison if convicted.