We didn't even know that he was thought dead, but according to the Daily News, former mayor Ed Koch caused quite a scare last night. Firefighters and EMTs rushed to the 83-year-old's Greenwich Village apartment in a panic last night to make sure that Koch was okay. Why? Because he had accidentally set off his Life Alert pendant.

That's right, that product you've seen on television, the one where the old lady says, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" You know, the one that stars all the same actors from the "Clapper" commercials? Operators couldn't reach Koch after his alarm was set off (his air-conditioning unit was on, and he couldn't hear them calling from the device installed in his living room), so they sent in emergency assistance. "To the consternation of my enemies, I'm still alive," Koch said later. And to the consternation of all those punk kids out there who grew up making fun of Life Alert, real people use it, and it totally works.

Former Mayor Ed Koch accidentally sets off medical alert [NYDN]