It was after 1 a.m. when a man flagged down Atlanta police Officer Jimmy Cenescar.
“He is down there!” the man said. “Help him!”
A man had driven his red BMW off a northwest Atlanta bridge, landing some 50 feet below, according to investigators. The driver survived the plunge and was still in the wrecked vehicle under the bridge, which spans the site of the Norfolk Southern-Inman railyard as well as the CSX Transportation REDI Center.
A large, locked gate blocked a gravel driveway that would have helped Cenescar reach the injured man. After getting permission from a supervisor, Cenescar pushed through the gate with his patrol vehicle until he could reach the driver, who had serious injuries but survived.
“It was a very chaotic scene. I just knew I had to get everything under control,” Cenescar recounted after the October 2021 rescue. “My training kicked in and I just took action.”
Cenescar, who had recently been working as a trooper for the Georgia State Patrol, died in the line of duty last month. He was 28. His funeral will be held at 11 a.m. today at Mount Paran Church in Atlanta, with burial to follow at Mount Harmony Memorial Gardens in Mableton.
Cenescar joined the Atlanta police department in 2019 and spent about three years with the agency before joining the state patrol. On Jan. 28, Cenescar was killed in a crash while pursuing a motorcyclist accused of violating several traffic laws on I-85 in Gwinnett County.
Days later, Gerson Danilo Ayala Rodriguez, who investigators said didn’t have a driver’s license or valid license plate on his motorcycle, was was arrested and charged with murder and vehicular homicide, according to the Department of Public Safety. The Norcross man faces several other charges, including fleeing and attempting to elude, reckless driving, tampering with evidence, speeding and driving without a license.
Cenescar is survived by his parents and fiancée, along with a sister and four brothers, according to his online obituary. He was also a student at Georgia Gwinnett College and was on track to graduate in the spring, the college said.