SAVANNAH, GA (March 23, 2016) – On Friday, March 25 the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department presented dozens of awards to officers, civilian staff, and members of the community for their bravery, dedication and outstanding performance.
The awards ceremony and luncheon was sponsored by the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort and Spa and General Manager Mark Spadoni.
Citizen Awards of Commendation were awarded to:
- Daniel Cates –flagged down officer for severely injured neighbor.
- Melanie Bevere – donated $4,000 worth of crates, equipment to K9
- John Meeks and Joseph Rowland – helped an officer arrest a combative DUI suspect.
Chief’s Outstanding Youth Award was prented to:
- Tykwel Bryant – 14 year old used his fist to break a window and rescue his brother from a fire.
Medal of Merit:
- Greg Ernst, Lt. Dan Flood, Lt. Harry Trawick, Lt. Gellatly – created an operations and logistics plan in case of civil unrest.
- APO Chris Ameduri – using CIT training to help a mental health patient and get rode with him to the hospital.
- Edward Grant and APO Jason Pagliaro – created and maintain new SCMPD website which provides better community engagement and transparency
- APO Brittany Dobbs – prayed with dying murder victim from City Market shooting.
- APO Josh Holz – first on scene at a shooting in Yamacraw. He sat in filth and ants to perform CPR on the dying victim.
- APO Otilio Rivera – developed leads and a confidential informant to solve entering autos in Berwick/Enclave neighborhoods, including recovering stolen gun of law enforcement officer.
Medals of Distinction:
- Retired Detective Corey Cotton – saw man abusing and trying to kidnap a women. Cotton intervened and helped woman and led officers to offender.
- APO Glenn Castro – confronted by 2 armed men while working undercover. Deescalated the situation then led other officers to the suspects for their arrest.
- Chris Talley – talked down suicidal man who was armed and making threats to harm himself and others.
- Bryan Holler, Cpl. James Lyttle, APO Phillip Collard, APO Matthew Cross, Ofc. Nader Mirtolooi, and Ofc. John Morris– in the SWAT’s armored Bearcat and led the rescued of two CCSO deputies in Pooler.
Chief’s Award of Excellence:
- APO Phillip Collard – led, coordinated efforts and calmed the chaos at Pooler SWAT Standoff with injured deputy.
- APO Chase Cogswell – a natural a hunting fugitives with the US Marshal Service. Cleared 71 cases in 2015
- Michelle Gavin – Improved the SCMPD’s recruiting and retention, broadened community outreach
- Tonja Maultsby – took on a significant increase of duties as Administrative Assistant – insures Patrol operations run smoothly.
Medal of Valor
- APO Will Fernandez– used K-9 to track man who had shot at officers. Fernandez arrested and held armed suspect until other officers arrived.
- John Hauber, Ofc. Daniel Kang, Ofc. Michael Gonzalez, and Cpl. Ruben Colon– involved in the officer-involved shooting on 36th and Ogeechee in October. All four protected each other during this extremely dangerous situation. Hauber and Kang rendered immediate aid to officers who were shot.
Purple Heart
- Ruben Colon and Ofc. Michael Gonzales –shot in the line of duty under honorable circumstances in October.
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