AMESBURY — The Amesbury Police Department recognized the hard work and heroic actions of both police officers and a community member at a special department meeting Thursday.
The meeting at the old City Hall included a promotion and awards ceremony, with three awards being given out. Two awards were given to groups of police officers and one was presented to a civilian.
One of the awards presented to officers in the department was the Shift Commendation Award, which was given to those on the 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift and the 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift in mid-October.
The officers investigated and eventually found a missing teen from Amesbury who made threats of school violence.
In October, police received a report concerning a missing 16-year-old from Amesbury, and through an investigation, they determined that the teen was in Texas. Local officers worked with and received assistance from agencies, like the FBI in both the Boston and Houston field offices and the Houston Police Department, to locate the teen and take him into protective custody before reuniting him with his parents.
Bailey said it was humbling to see his officers work well in collaboration with these agencies, but that he would not expect anything less from the Amesbury Police Department.
“I have the utmost confidence and trust in my team that they would perform well under situations like this, and I know that they do, and this is just kind of a way to prove it,” he said.
The other officer-related award was the Life Saving Award, which was presented to Sgt. Matthew Cunningham, Sgt. Shawn O’Brien, Officer Peter Merrow, Officer Adam Ivancic and Officer Abel Trejo.
These officers received the award due to their response to a Lions Mouth Road home in July after receiving a report from a concerned family member that a person had made suicidal statements.
According to the citation accompanying the award, once officers arrived at the home, they saw a man suspended by an electrical cord in the basement of the house through a window.
Immediately, officers went inside the house, removed the cord from the man’s neck and began lifesaving measures.
The police officers then coordinated with the responding paramedics while continuing their rescue efforts until more advanced medical help could be provided, and the man was revived and survived.
Bailey said the two awards allow the public to get a glimpse into the day-to-day actions the police department takes to keep the city safe.
“I think it can be easily overlooked as to how hard and how dedicated police officers are to the community. I think that it’s important that the community have confidence in their department, and this is a way that we can show the community some of the things that we do. In particular, the Life Saving Award, we’re out there every day saving lives,” he said.
During the ceremony, Laura Newcomb, a bus driver who saved a student at Cashman Elementary School from choking, was honored with the Outstanding Community Service Award.
In January, when Newcomb was driving elementary school students home from school, she was alerted by the children on the bus that their peer was choking on gum.
Newcomb, who has long been trained in the Heimlich maneuver, pulled over and was able to perform the maneuver on the student, saving his life.
Bailey said Newcomb’s heroic actions made her the perfect person to receive this honor.
“Laura’s [award] was very much geared towards a single act of heroism, doing what she did for him on the bus was brought to our attention by the school resource officer,” he said.
Four members of the department also received promotions on Thursday night, with City Clerk Jennifer Smith swearing each individual in, an opportunity she was grateful for.
“I thought it was a beautiful ceremony, and I’ve worked with some of the police officers at election time, and they’ve all been fantastic. So, I was very happy to be invited to be part of that ceremony,” she said.
Barry Coker was promoted to lieutenant, Scott Peters was promoted to sergeant, and Christian Dumont and Matthew O’Brien went from being probationary officers to official officers.
When reflecting on the ceremony, Bailey said he was glad that a large amount of people gathered together to celebrate the men and women keeping Amesbury safe.
“It was a great combination of, not only officers, but the entire staff of the police department to family, to family members, to members of the community that just wanted to come out and see what was going on, So, it was very encouraging and humbling to see that many people come out and offer support to the police department,” he said.