'Hero' Cop Saves Autistic Child, Crime Drop & Holiday Cheer At 70th Precinct Council Meeting

Cop of the month award for Christian Lopez (pictured third from the left). Photo by Ditmas Park Corner

The December meeting of the 70th Precinct Community Council was extra celebratory, with brief wishes from elected officials, crime recaps — and straight to the featured event: an ‘amazing’ cop of the month, magic shows, and a visit from Santa.

In the most recent 28-day period, overall reported crime is down 29 percent compared to last year, said Executive Officer Ludwig Romero. “The 70th Precinct is down 231 crimes from last year — that’s a major, and almost historic, drop,” said Romero, detailing that they’re down by 109 robbery victims, 93 burglaries, 20 shooting victims, and 10 homicides from last year.

It was a short and sweet recap, as Romero seemed eager to present a special ‘Cop of the Month’ award to 26-year-old Officer Christian Lopez for an act of heroism that hit close to home and made local headlines.

“This is better than any robbery or arrest,” said Romero proudly of the off-duty officer who saved a 6-year-old boy’s life.

Asmaa Awawda and her child, Ibrahim at the precinct’s holiday meeting. (Photo by Ditmas Park Corner)

Ibrahim Awawda, a non-verbal boy on the autism spectrum, escaped from P77K (a program within P.S. 164 on 14th Avenue in Borough Park) in mid-December after his aid left early for the day.

“I told them my son can’t be left alone because he’s a runner,” Ibrahim’s mother, Asmaa Awawda, told the Post.

Ibrahim wandered two blocks and bolted up the stairs in Officer Lopez’s building, where the officer heard him fiddling with doorknobs on apartments up and down the hallway. Lopez found the boy on the building’s roof and took him in, eventually reuniting him with his parents through a missing person report from the 66th Precinct.

“That’s a true cop of the month,” beamed Romero.

(Photo via Council Member Chaim Deutsch/twitter)

After the brief meeting, Community Council President Ed Powell brought up Nathan Thompson, 2015’s ‘Community Activist Of The Year’, for a magic show that engaged volunteers and elicited gasps of amazement from a record audience — “The biggest crowd in a decade,” said Thompson.

“Who wants to volunteer?” asked magician Nathan Thompson to an eager crowd. (Photo by Ditmas Park Corner)

Sorry this photo is blurry, but the look on this girl’s face after she completed the magic trick was worth capturing! (Photo by Ditmas Park Corner)

Check out more photos of the event from Nathan Thompson below:

The 70th precinct Explorers, who scrambled to get additional chairs, wrap presents, and help the magician manage the crowd until Santa arrived. (Photo by Nathan Thompson)

70th Precinct Explorers, the program that demonstrates how a Precinct can reach out to the next generation. (Photo by Nathan Thompson)

It was hard to tell who was more proud, the Explorers themselves or their parents. (Photo by Nathan Thompson)