Michael Buchanan arrived in Manhattan with $7 to his name. Raised first by an abusive father, then by the foster system, he thought New York held a brighter life for him. He got a job washing windows in exchange for meals and slept in a rooming house for $3.25 a night. It was August 1981. He was 17.

On the night of September 1, Buchanan went to the rooming house’s sixth-floor ledge and considered suicide. Officer William Fox was among the first responders to the scene. A crowd that had formed in the street began shouting for Michael to jump. Fox eventually caught the boy and took him to Bellevue. Officer Fox adopted Michael that November.