4 Woodbridge Police Officers Recognized For On-The-Job Heroism

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — At the most recent Woodbridge town Council meeting this week, the following four Woodbridge police officers were honored for heroism they displayed in the course of their job in the past year:

Woodbridge Police Officer Michael Tapia: On May 30 of this year, Tapia, assigned to the newly established Arrive Program and with a mental health professional, responded to the Keasbey section on a report of an individual experiencing a mental health crisis. Upon arriving, Officer Tapia encountered officers from the Middlesex County Sheriff’s office attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a 33-year-old man and reported the man was locked inside the residence and threatening suicide.

Officer Tapia engaged the man (previously diagnosed as schizophrenic) in conversation and in a manner that quelled the immediate threat of suicide and successfully convinced the distraught man to be transported to a hospital for mental health evaluation and treatment.

Woodbridge police officers Carol Sohn and Samuel Annuzzi: On May 24, Officer Carol Sohn, with Officer Samuel Annuzzi, responded to a car accident on Rt. 9 South and Smith Street in Keasbey. The officers observed the driver of the vehicle covered in blood, holding his neck and arm and immediately applied tourniquet(s) and rendered medical aid. The officers found that the injuries were not consistent with a motor vehicle accident and were, in fact, life-threatening self-inflicted wounds. They got the man aid.

Woodbridge Police Officer George Beato: On June 6, Officer Beato was notified that a stolen vehicle had entered the Colonia section and immediately initiated patrol of the designated area. He located the vehicle and initiated pursuit. The stolen car was pursued through Rahway into Clark where the vehicle was stopped and two occupants arrested and charged. Then on June 16, Beato, along with other WPD patrol units, responded to a report of a burglary at the Topaz Smoke Shop in Fords. Beato encountered an individual fitting the description of the burglary suspect, detained and arrested the individual and found him to be in burglary proceeds.

From April through June of this year, Beato responded to 457 calls-for-service; conducted 227 special checks and investigations that resulted in criminal arrests and traffic summonses.