"New York (AFP) - Four burly Swedish police officers were hailed as heroes and set hearts aflutter with their model-like looks after they put aside their New York vacation to subdue a bloody fight.
The Swedes were taking the subway to a Broadway performance of "Les Miserables" on Thursday night when the train operator suddenly put a frantic call out for any police officers on the train.
"We thought maybe someone needed help," rookie cop Samuel Kvarzell, 25, was quoted as saying by the New York police department.
The Swedes said they found one homeless man beating another.
"One of the guys was on top of the other guy, so we separated them," the 25-year-old Markus Asberg told the New York Post.
Asberg shielded the victim, who was bleeding from the mouth.
Kvarzell and fellow cops Eric Jansberger and Erik Naslund restrained the aggressor, "who was screaming and resisting the Nordic heroes," the Post reported.
Amateur video footage released online shows the four officers crouched over the two men on the floor of the subway car, telling them to keep calm and checking that they are alright.
New York police commissioner Bill Bratton on Friday thanked the Swedes in person for breaking up what his department described as "an out-of-control fight."
"Privileged to meet with Swedish officers to thank them for all they did. Always on duty!" tweeted Bratton after the meeting, posting a series of photographs of the strapping Scandinavians.
US news website Mashable called the blond-haired Swedes "alarmingly handsome" and gushed breathlessly that they "look more like Scandinavian models than police officers."
"We came here for vacation," Asberg told the Post. "We're no heroes, just tourists."
Let's keep raising fares and no security around - (
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