Training (Wheels) Day
‘Verona Offi cer for a Day’ Micco LaRosa rides into action
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
■ PHOTOS BY ED CARATTINI JR.
What do you remember about your first day on the job?
You probably drove to the station in your personal car, walked
through the door, grabbed a coffee and sat down for the first day
of the next 25 to 30 years of your life.
For Verona’s Micco LaRosa, however, the first day on the job
was a little more dramatic. And it started with an accident.
On the night of Jan. 11, 4-year-old Micco fell off the couch
and hit his head on the floor. When he began vomiting, parents
Catrina and Mike called 9-1-1. They took this precaution based
on Micco’s condition.
“Micco has an underlying rare genetic disease called Alagille
syndrome that makes us more nervous,” Catrina shared about
the one-in-300,000-person disorder that affects the liver, heart
and other parts of the body. “It could have been brain bleeding,
so we just wanted to make sure.”
Officer Robert C. Maguire was the first one to respond, and he
was followed in by Verona Local 72 State Delegate Ed Carattini,
Jr. They called the Verona Rescue Squad, which brought Micco
to St. Barnabas Hospital. Micco arrived unresponsive, and a CT
scan did in fact detect bleeding on his brain. Around 2:30 a.m.
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ FEBRUARY 2019