PO Rhatigan Honored by Suffolk Legislator

Suffolk County Legis. William Lindsay honored New York police officer Wayne Rhatigan Tuesday afternoon with a hometown hero award for his work dealing with the attempted bombing in Times Square.

Rhatigan, 47, of Holbrook, an NYPD Mounted Police Officer, was alerted by Lance Ortman, a t-shirt vendor, that an SUV was smoking in the busy New York City location Saturday. Rhatigan helped evacuate the area once he witnessed smoke coming from the Nissan Pathfinder.

"It's all in a day's work," he told a local media outlet. "It hasn't hit me yet."

He told the New York Daily News, "I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking. I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."

He later had a beer with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to celebrate the day's work.