West Hartford Police Department announces recipients of its
2008 Police Memorial Awards
Citizens and Officers recognized
The West Hartford Police Department will hold a ceremony recognizing the exceptional efforts of its police force and the citizens of the West Hartford on Friday, May 16 at 8:00 AM in Legislative Chambers, Room 314, Town Hall.
The Police Color Guard will begin the ceremony with the presentation of the American flag followed by an opening address by Police Chief James J. Strillacci.The ceremony is held each year during National Police Week. Council members will present the awards.
Below is a list of members of the police department and citizens who will be honored follow by a brief description of their actions.
Departmental Citation
The Departmental Citation is presented to members of the department who through their own initiative and diligence apprehends, or through their actions causes to be apprehended, a felon who might otherwise go undetected. This award is presented to:
Officer Joseph Creaco - Stopped a vehicle for no front license plate and operating with no headlights. During the course of the stop Officer Creaco discovered a .22 caliber handgun.
Sergeant Michael Perruccio - Sergeant Perruccio, while on routine patrol at 0151 hrs saw two suspicious persons by the 7-11 store on Oakwood Avenue. The two men quickly ducked out of sight behind 7-11 when they saw the sergeant. The sergeant investigated further and recovered a handgun from where the two had been hiding. They admitted the handgun was theirs. Both men were arrested for attempting to commit a robbery.
Officer Andrew Wamester – Officer Wamester was on routine patrol when he recognized a car that fit the description of a vehicle wanted in a burglary that occurred three days earlier. He called for another cruiser and they were able to box the vehicle in and avoid a chase. The occupants of the car had just come from committing an additional burglary. All three occupants were arrested for the burglary.
Officer Sean Walmsley & Sergeant Douglas Frink – Officer Walmsley and Sgt. Douglas Frink stopped a vehicle that was being operated with a cracked windshield and having no front plate on the car. Ultimately, Officer Walmsley recovered a .25 caliber handgun, large quantity of crack cocaine, 32 prescription pills and also discovered one of the occupants was wanted on a robbery warrant.
Officer Dominic Creaco – Officer Creaco stopped a vehicle for making an improper turn. Ultimately the officer discovered a very large rock of crack cocaine, 9.2 ounces, 3 cell phones and a large knife. The person was arrested on a variety of charges, including possession with intent to sell.
Officer Joseph Creaco - While responding to a burglary, Officer Creaco noticed a suspicious car leaving the area. He followed it. The vehicle ultimately fled from the officers and crashed in New Britain. Two suspects were eventually arrested for the burglary. One of the suspects captured had a robbery warrant out for him.
A Unit Citation was awarded in connection with this case:
Detective Frank Fallon |
Detective Rob Magao |
Officer Alan Goldstein |
| ERC Susan MacDonald |
Officer Ruben Gonzalez |
Officer Shane McAvay |
Officer Paul Gionfriddo |
Officer David Strzalka |
Officer Peter Juda |
Merit Award
The Police Merit Award is presented to members of the police department upon commission of intelligent and valuable police service demonstrates a special faithfulness or devotion to duty. This award is presented to:
Officer Dominic Creaco and Detective Robert Allen - Officer Creaco stopped a suspicious person who had a screw driver and was hiding an amplifier under his coat. The officer did a field contact and case report. The next day Officer Creaco responded to a burglary scene in which a jacket and hat were left behind. He recognized the clothing as that being worn by the suspicious person the day before. Detective Allen became involved and was able to link the suspect to that burglary and another 25 burglaries in West Hartford and Hartford.
Officer David Strzalka - Officer Strzalka was on routine patrol when he noticed a car that had its interior light on. He stopped to check the vehicle out and found someone lying across the front seat. Upon seeing the officer the suspect fled. He was later apprehended and charged with several car burglaries.
Sergeant Kevin McCarthy - Sergeant McCarthy was on routine patrol when he saw a suspicious person with a back pack. He stopped the person and ultimately discovered a large cache of stolen items. The suspect was eventually connected to 50 car burglaries.
Officer Gregory Palmquist – The department received a call of an active burglary and a perimeter was set up to catch the suspect without success. Officer Palmquist remained in the area of a burglary well past the time the perimeter had been broken down. He located the suspect in the opposite direction from where it was reported he had fled. Not only did he solve the first burglary, but it was discovered he had committed an additional one.
Officer Joseph Creaco - This is in connection with a burglary complaint at Coastal Tools on New Park Avenue. Officer Creaco saw a suspicious person in the area as he was responding to an alarm call there. Later, Officer Creaco saw the same person back in the area a couple of hours later. He made a field contact and he was able to develop enough information to arrest him for drug paraphernalia and also possession of burglar tools. The suspect had a cut on his hand and his blood type was a DNA match for blood left at the scene of the burglary. Though we did not have enough to arrest him that night, the follow up that Officer Creaco and Detective Paul Roy did cleared up the original burglary complaint.
Officer Sean Walmsley and Officer Brett Balisciano - On March 22, 2008, arrest driver with 46 bags of heroin and brass knuckles return to the street and make a second arrest of a driver with cocaine and marijuana.
Life Saving Award
The Lifesaving Award is granted to any sworn member or civilian for a successful effort in saving a human life which involved exceptional courage or performance. This year’s award goes to:
Officer Joseph Creaco - WHPD was notified of an abduction of a CCSU student. Officer Creaco located the vehicle as it was operating on I-84. He was able to follow the vehicle and calmly coordinate the responding units. The vehicle ultimately crashed in New Britain and the victim of the kidnapping was recovered unharmed. Numerous officers from C-Squad also participated in the pursuit and search for the suspect.
Unit Citation was awarded in connection with this case:
| Sergeant Jeremy Clark | Officer Thomas Lazure | Officer Shane McAvay |
| Officer James DeLuca | Officer Al Goldstein | Officer Ruben Gonzalez |
Unit Citation
An Unit Citation is granted to individual sworn or civilian members of a unit who exhibited exceptional professional skill and conduct during a coordinated action. This year’s award is given because the unit acted when Newington Police Department reported that a son had attempted to kill his father by strangling him and beating him with a rifle. The vehicle was chased through West Hartford and West Hartford units ultimately apprehended the suspect in Hartford. This year’s recipients are:
| Officer Kerry Cloukey | Officer Gino Giansanti | Officer Dominic Creaco |
| Sergeant Doug Frink | Officer Brett Balisciano | Officer Sean Walmsley |
| Officer Andrew Wamester | Officer Phil Mugford | Sergeant Michael Perruccio |
| Officer Eric Butkiewicz | Officer Jeremy Tangarone | Officer Kevin Harrison |
| Officer Doug Martindale | Officer Art Yepes | Officer Brian Gallagher |
| Officer Tom Nagle | Officer Brian Wallace | Officer Emanuele Birritteri |
| Officer Peter Senick | Officer Shawn DiBella | Detective William Kinahan |
| Detective Michael Camilleri | Lieutenant Joseph LaSata | Officer Kimberly Sullivan |
Departmental Recognition Award
The Departmental Recognition Award is presented to an individual whose cooperation has aided the West Hartford Police Department in the prevention of crime, the apprehension of criminals, or has performed a valuable service. The following citizens received the Departmental Recognition Award:
Lisa Harris - Lisa’s grandmother was choking during a family meal. She had a compete blockage and could not breath. Lisa's father had unsuccessfully tried to dislodge the object by using the Heimlich maneuver. Lisa was able to use her hand to “fish hook” the object out of her grandmother’s throat and saved her. Lisa is 13 years old.
William Hammick and Brett Angers - Officer Potvin was in foot pursuit of a shoplifting suspect. Mr. Hammick and Mr. Angers saw the pursuit, grabbed and subdued the suspect for Officer Potvin.
Lindsay Hoar - Lindsay was driving her vehicle when she saw a vehicle being operated erratically in front of her. She began to beep her horn to try to get the attention of the driver and to alert other drivers to the danger while her mother, who was also in the car, called police. Two workers who were doing lawn work in the area were alerted to the car bearing down on them and were able to barely jump out of the way as the erratic vehicle struck two parked cars in the area they had been working. Had Lindsay not acted, these two workers would have been severely injured.
Iris MacFadgen and Andrew Amrich - Iris and Andrew are employed at Trader Joe’s and were instrumental in locating and identifying a woman wanted for stealing purses from the store. Andrew actually struggled with the woman who stole the purse and was able to recover all of the stolen property from the suspect. Iris remained 3 hours past her shift to assist officers with this case.
Cheryl Fine and Kate Dixon, West Hartford Community Television - Given in recognition of their service to the department by producing numerous positive programming on the department and department personnel.
Service Awards
The following members of the department celebrated their 20th and 25th anniversary with the West Hartford Police Department in 2007:
| Sergeant John Silano | 25 years |
| Records Supervisor Patricia Noonan | 20 years |
| Sergeant Ted Daglis | 20 years |
| Lieutenant Brian Royce | 20 years |
Eppie Award
The West Hartford Revolver Club will present its “Eppie Award” award to Officer Roger Brancoforte.
