HARLEM — A suicidal woman was saved by quick-thinking police officers who found her in her BMW with a T-shirt stuffed in the tailpipe after they tracked the woman down through her cellphone, the NYPD said.
The woman, 39, who was last seen leaving her home by a doorman Wednesday morning, texted her husband at around 4:53 p.m. to tell him she was going to kill herself, police said.
The husband tried searching for his wife after receiving the message but called 911 when he couldn’t find her, the NYPD said.
Officers from Harlem's 32nd Precinct searched the couple’s apartment building and surrounding area at around 7:30 p.m., before looping in the NYPD's Technical Assistance and Response Unit to help with the search using her cell phone signal.
Police were able to trace the phone to the Lenox Terrace complex at 2186 Fifth Ave., with officers responding to the address and finding the woman's car within 10 minutes, the NYPD said.
A sergeant and three detectives discovered the woman semi-conscious inside her black BMW, with a T-shirt placed inside the tailpipe, police said.
She was taken to Harlem Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition, police said.
The woman's cellphone battery was at 6 percent when officers examined it, police added.
"Had all units concerned not acted so quickly the cellphone would have turned off and the task of tracking the missing's location down much more difficult," the NYPD said in a statement.
