Inaugural Valor Awards Honor Fairfax City's Public Safety 'Heroes'

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce hosted its inaugural Valor Awards Breakfast on Friday to honor law enforcement officers and first responders serving the City of Fairfax and George Mason University.

"This has been a dream of ours for quite some time," said Douglas Church, chairman of the chamber's board of directors. "We are here to honor our heroes among a profession of heroes. It's a thrill to start this off."

Fairfax City Mayor Catherine Read echoed Church's remarks in celebrating the valor exhibited daily by the city's public safety employees.

"When people choose a career to be a first responder in law enforcement, emergency management, in fire, EMTs, you're choosing a career that puts you in harm's way every day," she said. "That's a tremendous amount of stress on the people who choose this as a career, but it's also a tremendous burden for your families. So, while the rest of us are sleeping every night secure that someone is awake somewhere, looking out for the safety of our families and our neighborhoods in the community, while we're sleeping soundly, we know that there are people out there who are committed to protecting us."

Marlon Dubuisson from U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly's office and Jackie Marmol from Sen. Mark Warner's office also praised the award recipients and thanked them for their heroic efforts on behalf of the two lawmakers.

As Connolly's district director, Dubuisson works in the congressman's Fairfax City office on Main Street.

On May 15, Dubuisson and Connolly were returning to the office after an event, when a staffer called and told them there was a man in the office with a metal baseball bat who'd assaulted two staffers. Fortunately first responders were already at the scene.

Sgt. James Lewis and MPO Charles Mills of the City of Fairfax Police responded to the attack, de-escalated the situation, and took the suspect into custody. They each received a Meritorious Award during Friday's ceremony at the Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center.

"Having to speak to parents, significant others, loved ones to say that your daughter, girlfriend or wife is in the hospital, it was difficult," Dubuisson said. "But fortunately, I was able to also tell them, they will recover and they were saved. The City of Fairfax Police Department showed up in less than five minutes."

Here are the other award recipients recognized during the Valor Awards breakfast:

• Unit Citation: Silver Award of Valor - PFC Maurice Anderson; OFC Patrick Talbot; PFC Olivia Baratto; and PFC Larry Luna, Fairfax City Police: On April 10, Anderson attempted to make a traffic stop while on routine patrol. He'd noticed a blue jeep with a plate that had been reported stolen. Once the jeep had stopped in a parking lot on University Drive, its occupants — two men and a woman — exited the vehicle and ran off. Anderson was able to apprehend the three suspects with Talbot, Barrato and Luna's help.
• Unit Citation: Lt. Ben Smith; MPO Joe Pittman; PFC Ryan Foster; PFC Sam Dee; PFC Marissa Fettig; PFC Noelle Becker; OFC Mathias MacFarlane; and Dispatch Supervisor Cynthia Tetterton, Fairfax City Police: On Sept. 22, 2022, Fairfax City Police received the report of a missing 81-year-old man with dementia. With the weather getting progressively colder, it was imperative to locate the man quickly. A coordinated effort by Smith, Pittman, Foster, Dee, Fettig, Becker, MacFarlane, and Tetterton helped to locate the man in about 40 minutes. The man was sitting against a tree deep in the woods near Accotink Creek. The rescuers had to cross difficult terrain to find him.
• Certificate of Valor - Capt. Steven Burmeister, George Mason University Police: Burmeister was recognized for going above and beyond in assisting city police numerous times with significant casework and crime scene processing.
• Gold Citizen Award - Ahmed Alsraai: On June 21, 2023, Alsraai witnessed a pedestrian-involved collision in the area of 9506 Fairfax Blvd. During the collision, the pedestrian had been dragged under the vehicle. Alsraai, who was an employee at the nearby Shell station, brought his floor jack to the crash scene and used it to lift the vehicle off of the pedestrian. When rescue personnel arrived, they found the pedestrian injured but not trapped under the vehicle. This made it easier for rescuers to remove the pedestrian and quickly take then to the Fairfax Hospital emergency room for treatment.

The chamber's Executive Director Jennifer Rose organized the ceremony and presented the awards. The event was sponsored by Apple Federal Credit Union, Inova, Digital Strategy Associates, Bryce Law Firm, Green Valley Custom Builders, and the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority.