Two NYPD Bomb Squad detectives who served together in the US Marine Corps — and responded to the ISIS-inspired bomb attack outside Gracie Mansion — reflected on their shared “bond” as they were both promoted this week.
Olivier Bagley, 44, and Christopher Toal, 46, were among 14 detectives promoted to the second-grade rank Monday in a packed One Police Plaza ceremony presided over by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Both detectives devoted about 20 years to the NYPD after serving as Marines together in Iraq.
“We were in the Marines in 2004 together, First Battalion, Fifth Marines,” Bagley told The Post. “We were in Fallujah, and then we both joined the police department around the same time.
“We were in [the Emergency Service Unit together] and now we’re in the Bomb Squad together. So it really is a bond that we have,” he said.
“It’s amazing getting promoted together,” Bagley added. “It really, really shows hard work and taking care of each other.”
Toal agreed it felt “amazing” to be promoted alongside Bagley.
“He’s just an amazing, amazing guy to be around,” he said.
The pair were together again earlier this month, both rushing to the scene when a pair of alleged wannabe ISIS bombers dropped a smoking IED outside of the mayoral resident on the Upper East Side.
While the two cops shied away from discussing the heart-pounding incident, Bagley said he felt the promotion was “a culmination of my overall hard work in the police department.”
Bagley told The Post late last year that he enlisted with the Marines on Sept. 4, 2001, just days before the 9/11 terror attacks.
He returned in 2004 to Iraq, where he was involved in the first battle of Fallujah when his convoy came under attack from insurgents who detonated a car bomb.
“a humbling experience” and said being a cop is “the best job in the world.” Robert Miller for NY Post
He was gravely injured when a four-inch piece of metal struck him in the back, and has since endured a long recovery that included multiple surgeries and 84 stitches.
Bagley joined the NYPD in 2006 – two years after his life-threatening injury.
“It’s a great honor to get promoted today, and it’s an honor to serve the city,” said Bagley, a recipient of the department’s Patrolmen Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie Uncommon Valor Award.
Robert Miller for NY Post
Toal, a 6-year member of the NYPD’s elite Emergency Service Unit, said he’s responded to multiple high-stakes situations during his career.
“I get to work with some really, really great guys,” he said. “It’s a humbling experience, because there’s a lot of guys that come from different areas that are very good at what they do.”
“There’s no job like it, and as long as you want to do it, it’s the best job in the world.”
Both Mamdani and Tisch thanked the members of New York’s Finest involved in the Gracie Mansion response as they stood before the promotees.
“Thanks to the many service members who helped to defuse the danger that day, no one was injured, no dinner table in this city has an empty seat today,” Hizzoner said. “Each of you being promoted today embodies that same commitment to service, those same high standards.”
“This job is unpredictable and it is unrelenting,” Tisch said. “It puts you in situations most people will never have to face, and when those moments come, there is no stepping back and no standing by.
“We saw that on full display earlier this month when officers ran toward a live explosive device in a crowded part of the city and made the decisions that kept people safe,” she said.
“That is what heroism looks like in this job.”
