Yardley Police Chief Joseph Kelly Awarded PD's First Valor Award

YARDLEY. PA — Nearly two months after he was shot in the line of duty, Yardley Borough Police Chief Joseph Kelly was honored with the department’s inaugural Valor Award, which goes to a law enforcement officer who displays courage without regard for personal safety.

Kelly was presented with the award at the Borough Council meeting and was also honored by the Bucks County Chiefs of Police Association.

The honors were given to Kelly after he was shot in the neck and ear in August while assisting a county parole officer with a wellbeing check at a Yardley Commons apartment. A 24-year-old man, Colin Petroziello,was charged with attempted murder and other crimes after he was involved in a four-hour standoff with police after the shooting.

Kelly is currently on modified duty as he is undergoing physical therapy for his injuries, he told Patch Monday. The chief hopes to return to full duty soon, he said.

"I am blessed to have to have the opportunity to return and serve this great Borough," Kelly wrote in an email Monday. " The awards are special as the nomination for the Valor Award was submitted collectively by all the supervisors & officers of the YBPD and the Chiefs of Police Association Award is given by all the Chiefs in Bucks County. I am truly humbled the recognition of my peers and my YBPD officers."

Kelly was released from the hospital a few days after the shooting and said that it marked the first time he had been shot.

“I don’t know if I look at life differently, but I appreciate it a lot more,” Kelly told CBS3 in Philadelphia in an interview after being released from the hospital. “I’ll be back here serving the good people of Yardley Borough as soon as I physically can.”

The department’s Valor award is presented “for an act of outstanding courage without regard to personal safety while the actual combat with an armed and dangerous adversary and/or in any other circumstances posing an imminent threat of serious bodily injury to the officer,” Kelly wrote in an email to Patch on Friday.

This nomination was made by all the officers of the Yardley Borough Police Department and approved by Mayor Chris Harding and Council President David Bria. Kelly’s wife, Danielle, pinned her husband’s commendation on his uniform at the ceremony.