Judy Arroyo

Judy Arroyo saved Stephen Pryke from burning, Long Beach, New York, February 19, 2023. At night, Pryke, 65, was asleep in a second-floor bedroom of his two-story house when a fire broke out on the rear deck. Awakened, Pryke left his bedroom and began searching the house to determine if his son and his tenant were inside. A passerby flagged down Arroyo, 51, on-duty police officer, who was driving nearby. Seeing flames consuming the house’s rear, Arroyo drove closer and went with the passerby to the front door, which was unlocked, and entered. Arroyo, who saw flames burning on the kitchen ceiling at the rear of the first floor, located Pryke after he had left the second floor, grasped his arm, and forcefully ushered him outside through the door. Upon learning that Pryke lived with others, including his son, whom Arroyo worried might be on the second floor, she returned inside through the front door. By then, Arroyo saw that flames had overtaken the kitchen. As Arroyo climbed a few stairs toward the second floor through black smoke, she felt a burst of heat, suffering burns to her face and both hands. She escaped through the door. As the fire continued to spread, first-responders accounted for Pryke’s son and tenant, neither of whom was home when the blaze started. Pryke, who was not burned, declined to go to a hospital. Arroyo went to a hospital emergency room, then was treated at a burn center. She mostly recovered from her burns in about three weeks.