Life-Saving Peabody Police Officers Honored

PEABODY, MA — Four Peabody police officers who helped rescue a driver from a burning vehicle following a 2020 crash were honored with the State Police Medal of Life Saving on Wednesday.

Sgt. Daniel Murphy, Sgt. Mark Saia, Officer Joseph Coup and Office Alan Gaglia earned the recognition for their actions on Nov. 16, 2020, when they saved a man from his burning truck on Route 1 in Lynnfield.

The medal was established to bestow recognition upon sworn police personnel who undertake significant actions in the saving of another life.

According to media reports, Peabody police started pursuing the pickup truck to pull over the driver for erratic driving in Peabody, but he refused to stop. A chase ensued before the truck crashed in Lynnfield.

The truck caught fire as police officers ran up to it. The officers worked to free the driver along with fire personnel.

Once the driver was freed from the vehicle, he was taken to a medical helicopter before being flown to a hospital in Boston, and faced criminal charges.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)