Two New York state troopers paid for a woman’s airfare to attend the funeral of a childhood friend killed in the Florida massacre after she showed up in tears at LaGuardia Airport, according to a report.
Jordana Judson, 23, a graduate of Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, told NBC News she was desperate to fly to her Florida home when she found out Meadow Pollack, 18, was among the victims.
Troopers Robert Troy and Thomas Karasinski noticed the distraught Judson and asked her whether she was all right.
Troy said the woman “was in tears and very upset” — telling him and his partner that she had a family friend involved in the mass killing and needed help in securing a plane ticket.
“I couldn’t even get out the words. Security people were bringing me tissues,” she said.
The troopers escorted her inside the terminal, where she said she spoke with a JetBlue agent.
Judson said she could not afford the nearly $700 one-way ticket, so she pleaded with the agent to provide a bereavement discount — but the agent turned her down.
“It was one flight that separated me from going home to Florida,” Judson said.
The agent said that if Judson couldn’t buy the ticket, the airline would have to offer it to another passenger.
Troy and Karasinski then jumped in and offered to help.
“They were like our second family our whole lives,” Judson said about the Pollacks. “As soon as I got out of the car at the airport, I started hysterically crying.”
“I look up, and the state troopers are standing there, and they’re both handing over their credit cards,” she told NBC News. “I’m telling them that they don’t have to do this. This is crazy. They said: ‘It’s already done. We want you to be home with their families. This is a tough time.’
“It was very heartwarming. It made my heart full and heavy at the same time,” Judson added.
Thanks to the troopers’ kindness, Judson was able to grieve with Pollack’s family at the Friday funeral. She also supported her own brother, who still lives in Florida and is close with the victim’s brother.
“It’s definitely painful. I don’t even want to go back to New York,” Judson said. “I just want to stay with my family, and my poor brother is so heartbroken.”
Troy said paying for Judson’s ticket “was the right thing to do.”
“The sense of just being there for your family and friends, you want to be there for them. You’re going to go through anything to get there,” he said.
“I know. I have five little sisters. If that was one of them, I’d want someone to help them out,” Troy added. “It was a sigh of relief. She was more in shock that we paid for her ticket.”
State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II told NBC News that “as members of the State Police and law enforcement, we take an oath to protect and serve. We also instill in our members the importance of acting with respect and empathy for the people they encounter.”