Bronx man searches for officer who rushed him to job interview

NEW YORK -- A man from the Bronx is desperately looking for the police officer who helped him when he needed it most. He wants to thank him.

"I'm stunned, there isn't a cop doing anything nice for James Roberts, I got chased for 11 years when I was doing bad," said James Roberts, a Bronx resident.

A ride in the front seat of a police cruiser, well, that was a first for Roberts.

"I love this guy wherever he's at, I love this guy, and I have to see him, I have to," Roberts said.

The 58-year-old ex-con wants to break bread with the NYPD officer who gave him a lift to job interview last month, helping him end a 10-year unemployment drought since he was released from jail.

"Do you have any idea of what his name might be?" Eyewitness News asked.

"I say Andrews is his last name, for sure his tag has an A and a D in it, I seen those initials and that's what I remember," Roberts said.

Roberts was so excited about the shot at an airport job, that he thought his interview was at LaGuardia Airport.

"So I get off the bus and I walk to the corner, and I'm like where can I find this place?" Roberts said.

Roberts used the free roundtrip bus pass he was given by his social worker and took them to Ditmars Avenue and Grand Central Parkway, but the staffing agency was a few miles away in Fresh Meadows.

"He said, 'You're not going to walk there and make it there. What time do you have to be there?' and I said, '1 o'clock,' and it was like 12-something, and he said, 'Get in the car,'" Roberts said.

He got the job working for airport rental car companies. Now the agency that helped him find a job is helping him find the mystery officer.

"I want this man thanked and I want the public to know that this is the kind of good people that work for the City of New York," said Dr. Lee Bowes, the CEO of America Works.