Greenwich Silver Shield Association Presents Awards to Police and Citizens Who Got Involved

“We come home from work and we probably don’t tell you a lot … we don’t share well. What you’re going to hear today is what these guys and girls do everyday when they come to work.”

That’s how retired Greenwich Police Lt. Tom Keegan introduced the biennial Silver Shield Association’s awards ceremony Sunday afternoon. By the time the ceremony concluded at the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center, the more than 100 attendees, including Greenwich’s legislative delegation, learned about the heroic efforts of the men and women who serve the town’s Police Department perform every day.

At times, there were audible gasps from the audience when they heard about four separate incidents when the lives of Greenwich young people who were suffering from heroin overdoses were saved by officers, and were told of the off-duty efforts of Officer Jason Lyman.

Lyman was driving home from work along I-95 one afternoon when he spotted a driver reaching into the back seat of his car and apparently striking something. Lyman pulled alongside the car and was able to see the man was beating an infant in the rear seat. Lyman called Connecticut State Police and followed the man from Stamford to Fairfield where Lyman saw the man hit the baby with the butt end of a screwdriver. State police were able to stop and arrest the man in Fairfield. Lyman received the Meritorious Police Duty Medal.

The Silver Shield Association, the union representing the Greenwich Police Department’s rank and file, holds the awards ceremony, amid much pomp and circumstance every two years. Sunday’s ceremony recognized the efforts of officers for 2013 and 2014.

Marine Officer Frank DiPietro and Marine Technician Shawn Fox were named Officers of the Year for their efforts to corral a runaway boat on Long Island Sound in 2013. The captain and passenger of the 32-foot boat were thrown overboard when the boat struck a wave. After attempts to use rope to foul the engine propellers, Fox was able to catch up to the boat at speeds of 50 mph, and with Fox driving parallel to the captain-less boat, DiPietro was able to leap from the police boat onto the boat and shut down the motor.

The association acknowledged the heroic efforts of now retired Lt. James Fahy who is the only Medal of Honor recipient in the department’s history. Back in September 1974, Fahy was a patrol officer who came to the aid of a Connecticut State Trooper who had three robbery suspects in custody on I-95 near Exit 4. The armed suspects began firing at Fahy and the trooper. Fahy fatally shot two of the suspects, saving the life of the trooper. Neither police officer was injured.

And the association also recognized one of its own — Keegan who has been running the association as their ‘go-to man’ for more than a decade.

Five citizens also were recognized for their efforts of ‘when you see something, say something.’ They saw and they did something that helped save lives and solve crimes.

The association presented certificates to:

• Joseph Dominguez who performed CPR on a heart attack victim at the New York Sports Club until emergency personnel arrived. The man victim survived.
• Anthony Marini, the owner of Chicken Joe’s who stalled a customer who tried to pay with counterfeit money. Detectives built a case and the man was arrested on federal counterfeiting charges.
• Andrew Coviello, a resident who got up to investigate noises outside his home. He called police who caught the man who burglarized several parked cars in the neighborhood.
• Laura Montanus, who happened to be walking past Saks Fifth Avenue when a man charged out of the store with an armful of fur coats worth $45,000 and an employee chasing him. Montanus took a photo of the getaway car and license plate leading the eventual capture of one of the suspects.
• Michael Nickerson, the caretaker of Captain’s Island was working in his shop, when he heard cries for help. He found and helped to safety a swimmer clinging to the rocks of the island in the middle of Long Island Sound.

Certificates of appreciation also were presented to two Greenwich school crossing guards who each have served 40 years — Dominick Perri and Tom Reale.

Officers receiving awards were:

• Commendation Medals: Officers William Larkin and Justin Rivera for a drug bust in the Havemeyer Park neighborhood of Old Greenwich.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Jason Lyman, David Swift and John Perna: resuscitating a heart attack victim.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officer Nicholas Carl for reviving an unconscious woman.
• Investigator’s Medal: Det. Michael Rooney for working with Rhode Island police on a child abuse case that led to the arrests of the suspects.
• Investigator’s Medal: Officer Jeffrey Morris for tracking down and arresting two women suspected of stealing a designer belt worth, and a designer handbag and cigar box from three stores on Greenwich Avenue.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Sgt. Louis Pannone and Officer Thomas Gorton: helping to revive a teenage drug overdose victim.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Philip Carriero, Christian Rosario and David Colbree for reviving an unconscious elderly woman who survived the medical incident.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Andres Sanchez and Jason Lyman for reviving a 21-year-old heroin overdose victim, who survived.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Christopher Sanborn and Andrew Kassay for reviving a 19-year-old heroin overdose victim.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Philip Carriero and Christopher Sanborn for reviving an unconscious woman.
• Investigator’s Medal: Detectives Pasquale Iorfino and Anthony Fiscella for solving a string of mail thefts that included the theft of more than $100,000 in checks from one mailbox. While conducting surveillance of the backcountry neighborhood, they saw the suspect steal mail from a mailbox, chased him and after drawing their guns, the suspect surrendered.
• Unit Citation: Capt. Robert Berry, Sgt. Timothy Hilderbrand, Officers Andrew Greco, Christopher Sanborn and Philip Carriero: for their response and handling of a suspicious package left at the ATM machine of the Bank of America that necessitated assistance from the Stamford Police Bomb Squad.
• Unit Citation: Lt. James Bonney, Officers Aran Santili, Arthur Sacco, George Backiel, Ryan Carino, Thomas Gorton and Michael Ucci for capture and arrests of three men suspected of stealing two cars in one night.
• Unit Citation: Capt. Robert Berry, Sergeants William Larkin, Ernest Mulher, Sean O’Donnel, John Rodriguez and Eric Scorca; Detectives Michael Rooney and Kyle O’Neil, Officers Caroline Clark, John D’Inverno, Keith Scorca and Craig Zottola for their handling of a reported hostage situation on Round Hill Road that turned out to be a ‘swatting’ incident.
• Unit Citation: Chief James Heavey, Deputy Chief Mark Marino, Capt. Robert Berry, Lt. Robert Lombardo, Sergeants Alton Hall, John Thorme, Ernest Mulhern, Deborah Vesciglio and Eric Scorca, Officers George Backiel, Thomas Gorton, Christopher Sanborn and Keith Scorca for their handling of an out of control man who was violent and drunk who threatened three women inside a home. The man was taken into custody after the Special Response Unit broke into the home and found him hiding in the attic.
• Unit Citation: Sgt. Patrick Smyth, Officers Philip Carriero, David Colgree, Vincent Loria and Christopher Sanborn for their search for an emotionally disturbed man who led police on a chase and search through the woods along the Merritt Parkway before he was taken into custody.
• Commendation Medals: Detectives Christopher LiBasci, Timothy Powell, Frederick Quezada and Michael Rooney for the investigation of a reported home invasion in central Greenwich that turned out to be a fabrication of the homeowner who staged the purported robbery.
• Investigator’s Medal: Det. Christopher LiBasci and Officer James D. Smith for solving a theft and stolen car incident that occurred at the Mobil gas station and Splash Car Wash on West Putnam Avenue.
• Investigator’s Medal: Officer Craig Zottola for his work on a reported kidnapping plot involving a backcountry Greenwich resident’s staff. It turned out that the resident’s personal assistant concocted the idea and fabricated the story — there wasn’t any plot involving the other employees.
• Investigator’s Medal: Officer Michael Ucci for capturing a car burglary suspect after a Pemberwick neighborhood resident called police to report someone rifling through cars.
• Investigator’s Medal: Officer John Tar for his investigation of a stolen wallet report led to the arrest of a suspect who was accused of swiping two residents’ wallets while they dropped off donations at the Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry.
• Investigator’s Medal and Commendation Medal: Detectives Pasquale Iorfino and Anthony Fiscella; Det. Charles Eible for their work in helping to capture a suspect wanted for the theft of $45,000 in furs from Saks Fifth Avenue.
• Investigator’s Medal : Detectives Kyle O’Neil and Joseph Rondini for their investigation of a heroin overdose case that led to the arrest of the drug dealer suspected of selling the drugs to the victim.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Nicholas Carl, Ryan Carino and Thomas Gorton for reviving a man who collapsed while shoveling snow at his Cos Cob home. The man survived.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Andrew Greco and Philip Carriero for reviving a man who collapsed in his Dairy Road home.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Nicholas Carl and David Swift for reviving a 20-year-old heroin overdose victim in his Riverside home. The man survived.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Michael Panza and John D’Inverno for reviving a man who collapsed in his Mead Avenue home. The man survived.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officer John Tar for reviving a man who collapsed in his Valley Road home. The man survived.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officer David Colbree for reviving a man who collapsed at the New York Sports Club.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officer Philip Carriero for reviving a woman who was found unconscious in her Saw Mill Lane home.
• Exceptional Medical Service: Officers Michael Panza and John Tar who located, treated and extricated an attempted suicide victim from the attic of his home.

Photo credits: Barbara Heins.