With 3000 arrests and more than 200 medals and awards in his career, Walter Wasilewski may be New York’s real life Batman. The retired New York City Police Officer is set for a new challenge, though, as the 52-year-old was the named the third member to join the CK Crew of Veterans and First Responders with PIRTEK Team Murray.
“It’s a great feeling to be part of something where you can actually give back,” said Wasilewski, now retired as the most decorated person with the rank of Police Officer in the New York Police Department. “This is my opportunity for me to give back and I am honored, proud and happy to be a part of it. For me to stand up and represent police officers and say, ‘Hey, we are all human and we have feelings and consciences and it’s OK to need to deal with things and there is help out there.’ If I can help one person in any way, shape or form, it’s a great start.”
Wasilewski will join former Navy SEAL David Rutherford as well as California firefighter Sonny Saghera as his CK Crew teammates, together they will represent PIRTEC Team Murray on Miller Lite Carb Day (May 27) in the TAG Heuer Pit Stop Competition at Indianapolis Motorspeedway. The rest of team CK Crew team members will be announced soon. The entire crew will be spending 10 days in Indy, training extensively for the competition but will also be taking in events surrounding the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PendGrade Motor Oil on May 29.
The CK Crew initiates PIRTEK Team Murray, who is fielding rooking driver Matt Brabham in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis as well as the Indy 500 this month. They are partnering with the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, which is named after the former Navy SEAL and author of “American Sniper,” Chris Kyle, who tragically died in 2003 at the hands of a fellow veteran who was suffering from PTSD.
The CK Crew also has the support of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, as they were the company that produced the 2013 movie with the same name and are releasing a special Blu-ray edition of the movie this month.
Taya Kyle. Chris Kyle’s widow, and best selling author of “American Wife, founder of the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, is pleased with Wasilewski addition to the honorary crew. Wasilewski, who now works for a private security company, has protected numerous celebrities which includes actress Sienna Miller, who played Taya Kyle in the movie.
“Walter is a good friend and I admire what he did throughout his career, as does the New York Police Department,” Taya Kyle (pictured above with Wasilewski) said. “While awards show how much he was revered, what he did to help others through his service, no award can place a value against that.”
The decorated first responder knows exactly what PTSD is, after serving at Ground Zero during the rescue and recovery period that followed the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Cetner. He hopes that by being a member of the CK Crew will help all police forces around the United States to become more aware of PTSD.
“In the military, PTSD is being recognized and it is being treated, even though there’s still a lot to be done, but many people don’t realize that it’s very extreme in policing,” Wasilewski said. “You see a lot of death and destruction, poverty, physical abuse and chemical dependencies (as a police officer) – it’s total mayhem. You go through that for eight hours or 16 hours and then you are expected to go home to ‘normal life.’ It’s a tough transition: You don’t just switch it off.”
Wasilewski served his time on the 46th Precinct of the NYPD, and they have offered many stressful moments like his years on the streets of South Bronx where he battled rival gangs who were fighting over drug territory. This made it one of the city’s most dangerous places. During the height of the drug wars, part of where he patrolled saw at least 100 murders annually which is why it was the in fact labeled the most dangerous part of not just the city but America. However during his years with the force he and many other officers worked hard to turn things around. Now in that same area homicides have dropped to about five a year. That is the fact that makes Wasilewski the proudest of his work.
“I worked with a lot of great people and I am proud to say that I was a part of cleaning up New York City,” Wasilewski said. “In my youth, I remember going down to Times Square and it was a combination of fear and adventure; now you go down and it’s like a giant Disney World. It’s pretty cool to say I helped to do that.”
Although participating in the CK Crew and raising money for Veterans as well as first responders is the most important thing there is another thing Wasilewski hopes to cross of his bucket list and fufill his childhood dream by meeting one of his heroes racing legend and the 1969 Indianapolis 500 champion Mario Andretti.
“I was a kid in the Mario Andretti days and racing was the coolest sport in the world,” he said. “The Kyle Foundation is the most important thing, but then you are talking all these famous racers, the most famous race, the 100th (running) of the most famous race, and then Mario Andretti might be there, I mean, where does it end? I have goose bumps just talking about it.”
Now he sure won’t have to chase any bad guys in the pit area but he hopes that the skill learned and teamwork he experienced with the NYPD will come in handy and help them in the pit stop competition. Thanks to his time on the force he will be the most prepared member of the CK Crew if for some reason Brabham would having something go wrong as he tired to hit his marks.
“I have a little bit of experience with people trying to run me over a few times, but at least if Matthew does it, it will be accidental,” he said laughing.