Bruce Robbins, a professor at Columbia University in New York, says that the NYPD told him they were “too busy with Eric Garner protests” to search for his missing son, who hadn’t been seen since leaving a note saying that he was going to jump off the George Washington Bridge.
According to the Daily Mail, Robbins’ son, Andreas, 25, was seen leaving his apartment on Monday evening by surveillance cameras. The young man reportedly left home without his phone or bankcard. His girlfriend notified police after finding a suicide note left at the apartment.
“The note said that he wanted his savings to be given to an organization that fights depression and fight suicide and that he wanted his ashes strewn in the Mediterranean, which is where his mother is from,” Robbins said.
Robbins says that while the NYPD was helpful at first in the ongoing search of his son, they have become preoccupied with protests surrounding the grand jury decision not to indict an NYPD officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. “I was kind of speechless,” Robbins said. "A detective basically said, 'There's no one out to take your case because everyone is out there dealing with the consequences of the Eric Garner case'.”
After learning of his son’s disappearance, Robbins rushed to the G.W. Bridge, but found no sign of Andreas having been there. “We just want a sign that he is okay,” Robbins said. “He should do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants, whatever he needs to do, but we just want to know that he's okay.”