VALHALLA, NY (August 12, 2023) — Awards for bravery, exceptional police work and lifesaving were presented to 30 Westchester County police officers this week at the Department of Public Safety’s annual award ceremony.
The awards for incidents that occurred in 2022 were presented by County Executive George Latimer, Deputy County Executive Kenneth Jenkins and Acting Public Safety Commissioner Terrance Raynor at a ceremony on Tuesday at the Police Academy in Valhalla.
“The work that you do is to protect all of us,” Latimer told the award winners. “It is a calling. It is not just a job, it is not just a career. Most of us do not have the skill set to do what you do.”
Among those honored were:
- A Patrol officer who used a plastic potato chip bag to seal a gunshot wound and save a shooting victim’s life
- The Department’s tactical team for its courage and restraint during a standoff with a barricaded subject who fired more than 40 gunshots at them, wounding two of them with gunshot fragments and injuring two others when a ballistic shield shattered from the fusillade of gunfire
- Three officers from a specialized Patrol unit who made 159 arrests, seized 48 illegal firearms, recovered 49 stolen vehicles and seized almost 100 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.
Commissioner Terrance Raynor said, “These awards cover a tremendous range of great police work – from acts of courage and bravery to successful, skillful investigations and decisive actions that saved lives. The commonality in all these awards is that each member acted in accordance with the highest standards of our Department and chosen profession.”
The awards presented were as follows:
The Meritorious Service Medal was awarded to Police Officer Eric Peterman for his actions in the aftermath of a shooting at a Yonkers bodega on July 15, 2022. Officer Peterman utilized a plastic potato chip bag to reduce the blood flowing from a sucking chest wound suffered by one gunshot victim and applied a chest seal when it became available. He then applied a tourniquet to a woman who was bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to her arm, saving her life as well. After the arrival of EMS personnel, PO Peterman assisted Yonkers investigators in the recovery of spent shell casings or rounds fired during the incident.
The Distinguished Service Medal & Combat Cross were presented to members of the Special Response Team for their courageous actions when repeatedly fired upon by a man who barricaded himself inside his Cortlandt home on Sept. 14, 2022. During an incident that lasted more than nine hours, SRT members were fired upon 23 separate times, and a total of at least 40 rounds of ammunition were fired at them. A ballistic shield used by SRT to protect its members was destroyed by the gunfire, two SRT members were wounded by shrapnel, and two others suffered eye injuries when the ballistic shield shattered. Despite the deadly force being used against them, officers only utilized less-than-lethal weapons to defend themselves against the man, who was in emotional crisis and eventually took his own life.
SRT members who were honored were: Lt. Paul Cusano, Lt. Michael Demaio, Sgt. Daniel Dumser, Sgt. David Minet, Sgt. Michael Ritell, Sgt. Jeffrey Slotoroff, Detective Jonathan Gould, Detective Marc Moskalik, PO David Byrnes, PO Michael Huffman, PO Jason Payne and PO Brian Tierney.
A Unit Citation was presented to the Conditions & Surface Transportation Unit for an outstanding body of work in 2022, including their role in: assisting in ghost gun investigations; supporting federal agencies in asset forfeiture investigations; and locating wanted suspects and stolen vehicles traveling through Westchester County. In 2022, Sgt. Brandon Amlung, Police Officer David DiRienzo and Police Officer Jonathan Irwin were responsible for making 159 arrests; seizing $1.4 million in cash, 48 firearms, 80 pounds of heroin or fentanyl, 18 pounds of cocaine, 400 pounds of marijuana and 290 illegal prescription pills; and recovering 49 stolen or felony vehicles.
The Meritorious Service Medal was awarded to six members who secured a man who had climbed over an 8-foot-tall barricade on the Mario Cuomo Bridge on May 7, 2022 and was threatening to jump. The first arriving officer, Sgt. Jeffrey Slotoroff, worked with New York State troopers to secure the man in netting. Upon arrival of Chief Inspector James Luciano and Emergency Service Unit members Sgt. Isai Moreira, PO Tyler Hinkley, PO Joseph Kraus and PO Nicholas Zebrowski, the ESU members worked in tandem to place PO Hinkley in a harness and send him over the barricade. As he hovered almost 200 feet above the Hudson River, PO Hinkley worked with his fellow officers to get the man back over the barricade to safety.
The Commendable Police Duty Medal was awarded to ESU Police Officers Kirk Baker and Tyler Hinkley who rendered aid to a woman who was struck by a train in Valhalla, was trapped between the platform and the train and was found underneath an electrified rail shoe. Despite danger posed by the proximity of the electrified rail shoe, the officers rendered aid to the critically injured woman, secured her on a backboard, removed her from under the rail shoe and turned her over to EMS.
The Commendable Police Duty Medal was awarded to Police Officers Brandon Day and Joel Green for their skillful response to a person in crisis who was planning to harm herself at Rye Playland. On May 23, 2022, the officers were on another call at Playland when they learned that a woman had been heard making suicidal threats. When they located her on the boardwalk, she had duct-taped her wrists and ankles and was preparing to throw herself over the boardwalk railing into the waters below. The officers utilized their crisis intervention training to de-escalate the situation, earn the woman’s trust and convince her to allow them to approach her and then bring her to the hospital for mental health care.
The Commendable Police Duty Medal was awarded to Police Officer Rassau Romeo for his outstanding work enforcing Driving While Intoxicated laws on Westchester’s parkways. In 2022, PO Romero arrested 75 motorists on DWI charges, leading the Department in these arrests and safeguarding the County’s parkways for all motorists who use them.
The Lifesaving Medal was awarded to Police Officers Jake Carpenter and Alberto Ramos for their decisive actions on Sept. 10, 2022, in Mount Kisco. The officers responded to an apartment and found a man non-responsive and bleeding from a head injury. They promptly administered Narcan, performed CPR and provided other critical aid until the arrival of EMS, resulting in saving the man’s life.
The Lifesaving Medal was awarded to Police Officers David Johnson and John Hecht, and the Benevolent Police Duty Medal was awarded to White Plains Police Officer David Cardenas for their lifesaving actions on July 2, 2022, at Maple Moor Golf Course. The officers responded to the golf course on a report of a man down in the parking lot. PO Cardenas began CPR and was assisted by POs Johnson and Hecht upon their arrival. Their combined efforts saved the life of a 59-year-old man who had gone into cardiac arrest.
Department accountant Lou Codella was awarded a Civilian Award of Merit for his keen observations and prompt notification to police personnel on March 4 that lead to the arrest of a suspect who had fled from County officers at more than 100 mph. In an effort to elude officers, the suspect pulled into the visitor lot at County Police headquarters at a high rate of speed and under cover of darkness, apparently unaware that he was adjacent to a police station. When Codella observed two patrol cars pass headquarters with lights and sirens activated, he went back into headquarters and told officers what he had observed. As officers converged on the suspect vehicle, the driver attempted to flee once again, and rammed several patrol cars in an effort to do so, before he was taken into custody.
The ceremony concluded with a tribute to Chief Inspector Christopher Calabrese who will be retiring next month after 46 years of law enforcement service, 40 with the WCPD.