Former Law & Order star George Pogatsia became a real-life hero when he stepped in to stop what could have been a crime in the making.
According to the actor’s report of what went down, he put a stop to a possible kidnapping. “I hope she’s OK. I’m happy I was able to step up and stop it,” Pogatsia told TMZ following an incident on Saturday, November 1.
Pogatsia told the publication that while leaving dinner in Jersey City Heights on Saturday, he noticed a man approach what appeared to be an “intoxicated” woman. She shook off his advances but the man tried to get the woman to leave with him, the actor claimed.
When the woman attempted to flee the scene, the man allegedly got aggressive. Pogatsia claimed that he stepped in once the man apparently threw the woman over his shoulder. Pogatsia told the man to put down the woman — which he did before fleeing the scene. Police and an ambulance arrived on the scene and Pogatsia offered his account of what went down.
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It’s hard to ignore Pogatsia’s Law & Order past as a possible reason why he stepped in to assist. The actor appeared in various episodes of the show as a court officer named Mikey from 2004 to 2008. The actor has also made appearances in other notable shows over the years including The Sopranos and Luke Cage.
Pogatsia isn’t the only Law & Order franchise star who has put on their real-life police hat after starring in the show.
Mariska Hargitay, who has starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since the show’s inception in 1999, has famously been approached in public with people thinking she’s an actual police officer.
The actress made headlines in 2024 when she was filming the show and a little girl came up to her at the Anne Loftus Playground. The little girl got separated from her mom and went to Hargitay for help.
“Basically, what was happening is we were about to shoot, and I see this little girl, and she’s standing by herself,” Hargitay recalled on Late Night With Seth Meyers in October 2024. “We just sort of locked eyes, and I saw the look in her face.”
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The actress joked that she “left” costar Ice-T “waiting” on set to go help the little girl.
“We just walked around the park a few times, and I found her mommy, and it was all good,” Hargitay recalled.
While this was one of Hargitay’s best moments with the public while filming the show, the actress has actually had some not-so-great encounters with people in New York City.
“When we’re shooting … people will just come up to us while we’re in the scene and start talking and then be like, ‘Oh my, God, I love your show.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s good because we’re actually shooting it right now, see that camera?’” she said on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast last month. “And then they keep talking. So, that I like.”
