The NYPD estimates that more than 2 million people attended the Knicks parade last week. Some said they waited their whole lives for that day.
“This is once in a lifetime. Even if they go again next year, it’s not going to be like this,” parade-goer Peter Shrieve-Don said.
What You Need To Know
A man collapsed atop a subway entrance at the Knicks parade, and strangers climbed up to save him
When an off-duty EMT spotted an overdose, someone in the crowd passed up Narcan
Now honored by the city, the EMT is using the moment to champion harm reduction
Shrieve-Don was right about that. He just didn’t know why yet.
Up above the joy of it all, on the roof of a subway entrance, a man was slipping. And the crowd could only watch him teeter on the edge.
“His neck started to go limp, his head fell back, his eyes rolled back,” Shrieve-Don said. “And it doesn’t take that many beats of that before you realize, OK, no one’s really answering the call here.”
So Shrieve-Don did, and a few others with him, climbed toward a stranger who was running out of time.
He’d brought a camera that day to remember a parade. Instead, it captured actions that may have saved a man’s life.
“I’m clearly not that useful. We need somebody who actually knows what they’re doing. It turns out that was Simone,” Shrieve-Don said.
Simone Kelly went to the parade alone. An EMT studying to become an emergency psychiatrist in the field of addiction, she was the right person at the right moment.
“Two other men, they actually tell me, ‘you’re not needed here.’ Like, stay down, you know, we’ve got it covered. I’m really glad I didn’t listen,” Kelly said.
She climbed up and, using her training, took charge of a team that hadn’t existed a minute before.
Kelly knew the signs of an overdose the moment she saw them. And as she worked, the crowd became part of the team too.
Someone handed up the one thing she needed, the opioid-reversing drug Narcan.
“I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it because we do what I cannot alone,” Kelly said.
“You’re just thinking, oh my God, he — he’s alive,” Shrieve-Don said.
The man woke up, but high above the crowd, that was only half the danger.
“Everyone’s holding a different appendage. You see hands reach up from the crowd. Everyone is really just [thinking] ‘God, I really hope this doesn’t go poorly,’” Kelly said.
“Again, Simone took charge,” Shrieve-Don said.
And so they passed him down, hand-to-hand, stranger-to-stranger, until he was safe.
This week, his mother found Shrieve-Don to thank him.
“It made my day. She said, ‘Thanks for saving my firstborn,’” Shrieve-Don said.
The city gave Kelly its Commissioner’s Award for Life-Saving Action. But it was no surprise to the one person who’s known her longest: her mom.
“What blew me away is: how the hell did — how do you get up there and stay up there? It looked terrifying. I’m very proud,” Kelly’s mom, Trent Oliver, said.
We may never know for certain if the man overdosed. Narcan does no harm if he didn’t. Kelly wants people to sit with that, and with the people struggling with addiction.
“Too often we call it a moral failing,” Kelly said. “Just because someone chooses to do drugs does not mean they choose to die.”
They came to the Canyon of Heroes to watch the parade, but became heroes themselves.
“It’s a human moment,” Shrieve-Don said.
“I am glad I could help. This isn’t about me. It’s acknowledging anyone who steps in and does the right thing,” Kelly said.