It is the look of trust in 16-year-old Jessica’s eyes that will stay with Nathalie Urbas.
The Toronto police constable was the first to arrive at a Scarborough apartment building on Nov. 23 shortly after 6 p.m.
The shocking details of the call blared across her cruiser radio as Urbas and her partner raced to the scene.
“It came over as unknown trouble,” she told CTV News Toronto.
“The information that was provided to us was, ‘He’s killing my kids.’”
Not knowing where exactly the trouble was unfolding in the building, Urbas raced up a blood-spattered stairwell to the sixth floor.
She soon found a mother holding a child in her arms.
“There was just blood everywhere,” Urbas said.
Her police training quickly kicked in.
Urbas said she immediately put pressure on the girl’s most severe injury – a stab wound to her neck.
“I could see the trust that she had in her eyes… that made me work harder. It made me stay focused and composed,” she said.
“I kept telling her that she was going to be okay.”
Urbas’ colleagues with the Toronto police public safety response team were not far behind.
Const. David Monteiro quickly made a difficult decision to bring the critically injured girl down to the lobby so she could be more easily accessed by paramedics.
“I picked her up. Nathalie maintained the pressure on the wound, which due to the amount of blood and where the wound was, we suspected it was an arterial bleed,” Monterio said.
“She needed help right away.”
With the help of her fellow officers, Monteiro carried the girl down six flights of stairs to the lobby.
Sgt. Royce MacDonald then jumped in and helped bandage the girl with special blood-clotting wrap while they awaited the arrival of paramedics.
All the while, Urbas kept the girl conscious and assured she was in good hands. The officer stayed in the ambulance with the girl and helped bring her inside Sick Kids Hospital.
“You just have to try to keep her calm,” she said.
“She was actually amazing. She was very brave. She was a fighter. She was looking at me, listening to me the whole time.”
But Urbas said the chaos continued inside the hospital.
“When we brought her there she was awake but she lost a large amount of blood. There was so much blood all over the place,” she said.
“Some (nurses) came out and said, ‘What happened?’ Because her injuries were just so horrific.”
The officers were later told that the girl lost all vital signs at some point and was brought back to life.
She remains in the intensive care unit today, more than two weeks after the incident. The girl’s uncle tells CTV News Toronto that she is recovering and that the family will be forever grateful for the actions of the officers that day.
“We think about her, all of us, all the time. She fought, she really fought,” Urbas said.
“I learned later that the arm she was holding my hand with was actually broken, but she was still squeezing my hand. That was how I kept myself going, she’s still alive, she’s still with us, let’s keep going.”
Urbas, Monteiro and McDonald all credit the teamwork by police, paramedics and doctors for the positive outcome.
But, according to a surgeon at Sick Kids, it was the actions of the first responders that likely saved Jessica’s life.
“I and several other surgeons involved in her case have remarked that a very large part of the reason that this girl has survived (and I very much hope will make a good recovery) is due to the fact that she was so well managed by the officers and paramedics who found her,” reads an email from Dr. Edward Hickey to the detective leading the case.
“Please pass on my sincere thanks to the officers involved, who in my view should be congratulated and recognized for saving this poor girl’s life.”
The suspect in the case, 46-year-old Harry Rajkumar, he has yet to be caught.
He is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for attempted murder and was seen on Nov. 24 in security video at Casino Niagara, where police say he tried to withdraw money.
Residents at the Scarborough apartment building where the attack took police say they believe Rajkumar was in a relationship with the mother.
“I would like to emphasize to everybody out there to keep your eyes open,” Urbas said.
“He does not deserve to be walking around. He deserves to be in custody.”
Rajkumar is believed to be driving a grey 2009 Toyota Tundra pick-up truck with the license plate AJ21674.
Police urge anyone who spots him to keep their distance, as he is considered dangerous, and instead call police immediately.
“This is definitely up there for one of the hardest (calls) that I’ve been to, just because of her injuries and the look in her eyes,” Urbas said.
“But to know that she’s doing well… That really gets me. I can’t even express how happy that makes me.”
Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts is being asked to contact Toronto police or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Tracy Tong
