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NYPD Officer Brian Moore died at the hospital two days after the May 2, 2015 ambush in Queens. He was 25.
The incident convinced Zyskowski -- a local police officer -- and a group of friends to create devices that would protect law enforcers from vehicle ambushes.
"Police officers are always look at saving other people," said Zyskowski, 32, a Haledon and Ringwood native.
"But we don't look at saving each other."
"We might be sitting on Route 17 but anything can happen anywhere," he added. "No matter who we are or our situation, no matter if we're married with kids or not, we all have something we want to go home to."
For Zyskowski, it's his wife, his 1-year-old son and their dog.
Zyskowski unfortunately has gotten used to missing birthday parties, baseball games and even Mother's Day. But he knows his family would never get used to having him gone.
Last December, Zyskowski launched Clearly Safe LLC along with retired local sergeant Emmet McDowell, several other officers and supporters of law enforcement.
The Vernon-based distributor provides a variety of protective gear for manufacturing parent company ATEK Defense Systems.
"We wanted to create products that are practical and functional but more usable than other products in today's policing," Zyskowski said.
The ballistic glass window shield, for example, is specifically designed to eliminate ambush attacks and save lives. The half-inch glass is a window replacement and can roll up and down like an ordinarily car window. It's not a crash hazard and it's not bulky.
"Since the time we've made this, multiple officers have been shot," he said. "Every time it happens we know our window could have saved them.
"And it gets worse knowing you could have saved someone."
Sixteen officers reportedly have been killed by gunfire in the first 10 weeks of 2018.
The creators of Clearly Safe want to make sure it doesn't happen again -- especially here.
"The thing that police officers are most afraid of is putting families through the pain of losing someone," Zyskowski said. "Every day that I leave my house, I do everything possible that my wife, child and dog will hear me unlock the door at night when I come home."
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