Metro gives meritorious service awards

Wednesday, May 23, 2001 | 8:32 a.m.

Eleven Metro Police officers were honored with lifesaving awards, and another 13 officers were honored with meritorious service awards during a ceremony Tuesday.

Officers Bryan Brooks, Michael Lardomita and William Stockdale were honored for helping rescue a man dangling from a ledge of the Lady Luck parking garage on Nov. 6.

Sgt. Kevin McMahill and Officers Michael Barnbeck, James Breed and Frank Laythorpe were given the lifesaving award for rushing into a burning three-story apartment and evacuating trapped residents on June 5.

Detective Jack Clark and Corrections Officer Pearl Ziola-Casadei were cited for providing emergency breathing until paramedics arrived on Nov. 7 for a co-worker who collapsed.

Sgt. Steven Custer and Officer William Horne were given the award for rushing an unconscious infant to a hospital in a police car on Jan. 19. Custer put the child into the back seat of the car, and Horne started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Officers Thomas M. Riesselmann and Jimmy T. Ruiz were awarded the meritorious service award for extinguishing a car fire and preventing the car from rolling into an intersection on Sept. 19.

Detectives Robert Rogers and George Sherwood were honored with the meritorious service award for identifying the primary suspect in June in a string of casino robberies. The suspect fled, starting a high-speed chase that ended with the suspect in custody and no injuries.

A gang crimes enforcement team was awarded the unit meritorious service award. Sgt. David Schvaneveldt and Detectives Michael Game, Anton Gorup, Dale Jeager, Jason Letkiewicz, Anthony Longo, Patricia Spencer and Christopher Tomaino and Officer Joseph LePore were honored. On July 10 two of the officers happened upon an armed robbery of a bar and followed the suspect, who fled in a car. The suspect became trapped in traffic and started ramming cars. As officers approached, the suspect struck an officer with the car.

Other officers shot and killed the suspect. They were cleared of any wrongdoing by a coroner's inquest.