From left Angel Padilla, Jr., Presenter Chris Hansen, Daniel Díaz,
Mark Kahana, David Guzman and Peter Hammer, Jr.
On Top of it
Linden Local 42 officers receive Top Cop honor for their
brave pursuit of the tristate terrorist
n BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Next stop, Linden.
Thoughts of that robotic indicator voiced over the speakers
of the New Jersey Transit rail resonated in the minds of Linden
officers with eerie possibility.
Three explosive devices had just been found between New
York and New Jersey within 24 hours; one along a charity run
route in Seaside Park and two on sidewalks in central Manhat-
tan, one of which detonated. Law enforcement and civilians
everywhere were on high alert as information about the want-
ed bomber circulated the media and buzzed millions of smart-
phones in the area.
The next morning, Sept. 19, 2016, when a suspicious back-
pack was spotted in Elizabeth with multiple explosive devices
inside, Linden Local 42 Officer Angel Padilla Jr. couldn’t help
but notice how close to home the bombs were being planted.
Terrorist Ahmad Khan Rahami’s map of planned destruction
played out in his mind like stops on the North Jersey Coast Line
train, a route he knew well after serving Linden for 15 years.
New York Penn Station…Newark…North Elizabeth…Eliza-
beth…
Next stop, Linden.
“I said to the guys, can you imagine if his next stop was Lin-
den?” Padilla recalls discussing with other Local 42 members as
news of yet another pipe bomb discovery surfaced. “And sure
enough…I get sent to a man sleeping in a vestibule and there’s
the guy.”
Here’s the story
Not a day goes by that Padilla doesn’t reflect on the morning
36
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ JUNE 2017
that terror landed on Linden’s doorstep. Same for Investigator
Peter Hammer Jr., Investigator Mark Kahana, Officer Daniel
Díaz and Officer David Guzman, the four officers who respond-
ed to Padilla’s call for backup after he instantly recognized the
man sleeping on a doorstep as America’s most wanted terror-
ist, the man responsible for injuring 29 people with a series of
planted explosive devices made from LG flip phones, Christ-
mas lights and shrapnel.
“He was a loser as a bomber,” Hammer deadpanned. “He
didn’t kill anybody. Our guy tried, but he didn’t succeed.”
The memories of the brutal shootout that unfolded after
Padilla confronted the man in the vestibule are hard to live
with. Padilla was shot in the chest merely two feet from where
the terrorist was awakened on the pavement, claiming to be
a homeless person from Perth Amboy who lost his job. Ham-
mer also took a bullet to the head through the windshield of
his patrol vehicle when he pulled up to the scene. Knocked to
the ground by the impact of the gunshot, Padilla watched as
Kahana, Guzman and Díaz ran toward the danger, pursuing the
man with multiple rounds of gunfire even after Padilla warned
them to stand down.
The bravery and teamwork of the five officers turned them
into national heroes that day, and on May 12, they were named
Top Cops honorees by the National Association of Police Or-
ganizations. Amongst a crowd of law enforcement officers at
the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., who, like them,
were tested by the dangers of society and sacrificed their own
safety to save lives and rid the streets of bad guys, these five Lin-
den heroes were among 25 others from across the U.S. honored
for their courageous and selfless acts.