Walter Fahey and Bill Fahey

Walter Fahey and Bill Fahey

Interview transcript

WALTER: I was a cop with a good reputation out on the street because I never looked down at people. So that’s why I lasted 40 years.

WILLIAM: As a policeman, a lot of people burn out early, get out as quick as they could get out. You didn’t want to leave.

WALTER: No, remember the time they tried made me a detective and I hated it? I one day sat down and wrote a resignation to Mickey Roach, who was then police commissioner. He called me up and was like, Nobody’s ever quit. I said, I got to get back on the street. He said, You’re getting older. I said, I got to get back on the street where I make a difference. And the last years of my career I went back to what I did best.

WILLIAM: Wasn’t it in the 60s you stopped that girl from jumping off the building?

WALTER: She was 15 years old and I stood up on that roof for an hour and a half, and I said, If she jumps I’m going to jump.

WILLIAM: What did you say to her?

WALTER: Well, I told her, I said, Hey, you’re only a kid, life’s worth living and she started crying. She gave me a hug and said, Thank you for not letting me kill myself. She went on to have four children. I presume she’s still alive today. She’s probably a grandmother.

WILLIAM: What was the most frightened you ever were on the job?

WALTER: Getting shot at twice, hit by a car twice, thrown off a porch once, That’s a good one.

WILLIAM: Of all the violence you had to see every day, how did you turn it off?

WALTER: By coming home to a loving wife, loving children, and just go back to work the next day like nothing ever happened. Life goes on. There’s nothing we can do about it.

WILLIAM: Would you ever want to see any of your grandchildren become policemen?

WALTER: If it’s their choice, I’d be proud to pin a badge on one of my grandkids.