police officer awarded for Bravery
Posted: March 19th, 2009, 4:29 pm
Norwalk police officers awarded for bravery
Posted in Uncategorized by Rebecca on February 19th, 2009
As part of a new effort to recognize excellence, Chief Harry Rilling Tuesday honored five officers, including one who received the department’s second-highest honor, the Police Service Cross.
Officer Louie Giannattasio, a 10-year veteran, received the cross, given to officers who distinguish themselves by an act of bravery while engaged with an armed adversary. Giannattasio was recognized for taking a loaded gun from a man on a South Norwalk street last summer.
Officer Patrick English, who assisted Giannattasio that night, was given a Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes officers for extraordinary police work and judgment beyond the scope of reasonable expectations.
Three other officers, David Vetare, Bruce Lovallo and Russell Ouellette, were given Distinguished Service Awards for apprehending a suspect for firing his gun after an argument in the Issac Street parking lot in October.
Rilling said the award nominations were made by the Department Advisory Group, formed in the police department near the end of last year. The group formalized the procedure for offering the department’s six classes of awards, Rilling said.
While on patrol at 11:45 p.m. July 13, Giannattasio and English encountered six males walking on Larsen Street. When the group was stopped, one of the men kept trying to move something around in his left front pocket.
When Giannattasio got closer to the man, later identified as Dwayne Leak, 20, of 49 Meadow St., Norwalk, he saw a gun handle sticking out of the pocket.
As Giannattasio tried to pat him down, Leak tried to run away. Giannattasio, who next week will mark his 10th year on the job, chased Leak and tackled him. A loaded .38 caliber five-shot pistol fell out of his pocket, a report of the incident said.
Officer English had the other males get to the ground.
“Officer Giannattasio’s keen observation and quick action in tackling the subject led to the safe removal of the firearm from the subject’s reach,” Rilling said.
In October, Leak was sentenced to one year in jail for carrying a pistol without a permit.
Vetare, Lovallo and Ouellette were on patrol Oct. 19 when they heard gunshots fired in the uptown section of Norwalk near Wall Street.
The officers quickly established that the gunshots came from the Issac Street parking lot. Witnesses helped police find the suspect, Angel Morales, 27, of 14 W. Main St., who was walking on Burnell Boulevard. They went to his home, obtained permission to search and found a .380 pistol in a bedroom drawer.
“The officers’ quick judgment and extraordinary team work led to the location of a crime scene, corroboration from witnesses on scene, and the ID of a suspect from what was described at best as an extremely chaotic situation,” Rilling said.
Morales pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and the case is pending