Westfield Police Officer Frank Gaulin accepts a Medal of Valor from Chief John Camerota as Police Commissioners Karl Hupfer and Felix Otero look on Thursday evening at a police awards ceremony at Westfield Middle School South. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – The members of the city’s police community gathered in the auditorium of Westfield Middle School South Thursday evening to honor the heroic and commendable actions of their peers.
Thirty-two officers and two emergency dispatchers were recognized with awards ranging from letters of recognition to medals of valor for actions spanning the gamut from putting out a car fire to comforting a dying colleague.
Deceased officer Jose Torres, who died when he was struck by a dump truck while working at a construction site, was honored posthumously with a Lifetime Achievement award for his many acts of kindness during his 27-year career with the Westfield police.
During the ceremony, two auxiliary officers were presented with Life Saving Medals in connection with his death.
Auxiliary Sgt. Donald Humason and auxiliary Officer James Duperault had responded to the accident which took Torres’ life and had comforted and attempted to help him until paramedics arrived and both were presented with a medal for their acts of comfort.
Two officers – Frank Gaulin and James Renaudette – were each presented with a Medal of Valor, awarded for a deed “of personal bravery or self sacrifice.”
Medals and citations cover a table at Westfield Middle School South before the beginning of a police awards ceremony Thursday evening. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Both had responded to a report of a domestic disturbance and Gaulin, who had arrived first, found a man armed with a knife. Gaulin was able to make the man drop the knife but a struggle ensued and Gaulin was stabbed in his leg.
When Renaudette arrived on the scene the man was attempting to again stab Gaulin and Renaudette did not hesitate to use deadly force to eliminate the threat to his colleague.
Both officers received other honors as well.
Gaulin, together with Officer Jared Rowe, won a Police Star, awarded for a notable deed which “involved risk of life or serious injury so extraordinary as to set the individual apart from his or her comrades” , for an incident in which the two officers were executing a felony arrest warrant.
When the arrived they found that the suspect was armed with a meat cleaver and was yelling “shoot me.”
The two officers, at great risk to their own safety, took the man into custody after a struggle to control his hand holding the cleaver.
Renaudette’s second honor, a Life Saving Medal, was earned along with co-recipients Brian Freeman and Rowe as a result of their actions at a vehicular accident scene.
The three officers arrived to find a “fully engulfed (in flames) motor vehicle” and victim only about 25 feet away.
The three officers exposed themselves to the hazard of the burning, and potentially explosive, vehicle when they attempted life saving measures on the woman.
In addition to Rowe and Gaulin, a Police Star was awarded to Officer Kerry Paton for his actions when he responded to a call and found “a female who was being viciously attacked by her own pit bull.”
Paton grabbed the dog by its collar and choked it until it released its grip on the woman’s thigh and she and her two-year-old daughter, who had also been bitten, were able to escape.
Rowe and Renaudette received a third honor, a Police Commendation Shield, along with Sgt. Robert Saunders and Officer Christopher Coach.
The four officers had responded to a report of armed men at a large apartment complex and “worked together as a team to protect the lives of others and to apprehend three armed and very dangerous gang members”
Life Saving Medals were also awarded to Sgt. Jeffrey Baillargeon and detectives Anthony Tsatsos and Timothy Grady for their efforts which save the life of a person who suffered a heart attack at the YMCA.
Officer Dermott Hurly received a Life Saving Award for his actions performing CPR on a person suffering a heart attack and Freeman was also honored with the award for his actions to keep the victim of a motor vehicle accident breathing until he could be extracted from his vehicle.
Police Commendation Shields went to Lt. Lawrence Valliere and officers Allen Magdycz, Joseph Stoyak and Freeman who went into a rain-swollen creek off Holyoke Road to physically upright a flooded vehicle with a person trapped inside.
Six officers – Sgt. Michael Kane and officers David Racicot, John Barnachez, John Blascak, Carl Girouard and Scott Phelon – also earned Police Commendation Shields as a result of an incident in which a man was reportedly firing a weapon inside and from his apartment on Feeding Hills Road.
The six officers were commended for their actions to take into custody “the suspect who was armed and very dangerous” and others involved in the incident were presented with letters of recognition.
Two civilian dispatchers – Kimberly Racicot and Christine Gustafson – were commended with letters of recognition for “directing police officers to the scene and for keeping them informed” in the incident.
Two auxiliary officers – Jonathan Jedlicka and Michael Kearns – received letters of recognition for their assistance securing the scene and assuring that no civilians were jeopardized.
Officer Charles Kielbasa was named Officer of the Year for taking pride in serving the city as a police officer and for comporting himself “day in and day out in keeping with the highest standards and tradition of law enforcement.”
Officer John Blascak was awarded a Community Service Ribbon in recognition of a plan he devised to improve traffic flow at Hampton Ponds State Park which reduced the number of calls for police services there.
Letters of recognition were also presented to Sgt. Edward Murphy and officers Luis Morales, Steven Carrington and Paton in honor of their apprehension of four suspects who fled into woods when spotted in possession of numerous stolen motor vehicle parts, thereby clearing four previously unsolved larceny cases.
Retired Detective Dennis Donovan and Officer Juanita Mejias were commended with letters of recognition for their actions when they responded to a roll-over motor vehicle accident which trapped the operator in the burning vehicle.
Sgt. Paul Beebe received a letter of recognition for his handling of an incident in which a resident came to the police station to surrender an unexploded bomb he had kept “for some forty years as a conversation piece.”
