Nine individuals, including two New York Police Department officers who were killed after responding to a 911 call, were honored on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, by President Joe Biden with the Medal of Valor, the nation’s highest honor for bravery by a public safety officer.
Three New York Police Department officers, a Houston police officer, Colorado police official, Ohio sheriff’s Deputy and three FDNY firefighters all received medals in the White House ceremony.
“I don’t know all of you, but I do know you. From small towns to big cities, you’re cut from the same cloth. You run into danger when everyone else runs away from danger.”
President Joe Biden
In his remarks to the crowd, Biden singled out the officers’ families to express gratitude and said that the honor was presented for “actions above and beyond the call of duty.”
While responding to a call regarding a family quarrel in a Harlem apartment, NYPD officers Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera were shot on January 21, 2022. The fatal confrontation came to an end just moments after it started when Officer Sumit Sulan shot and killed the shooter, protecting the civilians. Rivera passed away that evening, while Mora was declared dead four days later. The honors were accepted by the two officers’ families.
Rivera, 22, had been a police officer for barely a year. Mora, 27, was in his fourth year on the job. All three were promoted to detective — the fallen officers posthumously and Sulan in a ceremony where he was given detective shield No. 332, a symbol of the three from the 32nd precinct where they worked in Manhattan.
“I think one of the hardest jobs in America, what you signed up for,” Biden said as he presented the medals. “You represent the best of who we are as Americans,” he added.
Biden also honored three New York City firefighters for the bravery, including Lt. Justin Hespeler, who rescued a newborn baby from a burning house. “That’s true heroism,” Biden said.
Firefighter Patrick Thornton who, aboard an FDNY boat, saved a man trapped under a capsized vessel in the waters off the coast of Staten Island was also honored, along with retired Lt. Jason Hickey who was on the FDNY’s marine training unit when he got a distress call of a man in the Harlem River. Hickey jumped in and saved the man from drowning.
Show Of Extraordinary Valor
Attorney General Merrick Garland noted that the recipients showed “extraordinary valor” above and beyond the call of duty. “At the end of every shift, you are there,” he said to the families.
“It is your care and encouragement that makes it possible for our public safety officers to do their jobs. We are so grateful to you,” Garland added.
The three remaining award recipients were Corporal Jeffrey Farmer of the Littleton, Colorado Police Department, Deputy Bobby Hau Pham of the Clermont County, Ohio Sheriff’s Office and Sergeant Kendrick Simpo of the Houston, Texas Police Department.
Farmer tracked the suspect to the door of an apartment building after receiving a report of shots fired, presumably out of a car window. The suspect then opened fire, striking Farmer’s partner. After working to repel the shooter, Farmer realized that an ambulance was out of reach, so he dragged his partner into his police car and personally transported him to the hospital, saving his partner’s life.
Despite not being able to swim, Pham helped a woman who was drowning after driving her car into a lake.
On the other hand, Simpo was working a second job at the Galleria shopping center in the Houston region when he heard on the radio that a man in a black mask and a heavy weaponry was prowling the mall close to where a group of children had gathered for a dance competition. Simpo tackled the suspect, who was armed with a revolver, an AR-15 rifle, and 120 rounds of ammunition. Nobody suffered any harm.
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