BY JASON THOMPSON
Officers and civilians were honoured for their courage, dedication and community service Thursday at the North East Region OPP Awards held in Sudbury.
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A three-and-a-half-year-old boy, David Fitzpatrick of Blind River, is the youngest recipient of a Commissioner?s Citation ever. |
Some 50 officers were celebrated for their length of service to the police organization, including a few from the Sudbury OPP detachment.
Const. Diane Hodgins was awarded a 20-year exemplary service medal.
Three officers from the Sudbury detachment were given 25-year pins, and welcomed into the Quarter Century Club.
Club inductees were Const. Edward Tricco, Const. Carl Neubauer and Sgt. Andrew Katulka.
A three-and-a-half-year-old boy is the youngest recipient of a Commissioner?s Citation in OPP history.
David Fitzpatrick woke one night to find a fire had erupted in the kitchen of his Blind River home. He alerted his mother and they escaped. David was uninjured while his mother had second-degree burns.
Skylar Trimmer was honoured with a Commissioner?s Citation for Lifesaving and a St. John?s Ambulance Award for saving his father?s life.
Skylar, 5, was quick to react when a wave struck their fishing boat, sending his father, Ed Trimmer into the lake.
Trimmer was run over by the boat and struck by the propeller. Skylar reacted quickly and seated himself at the helm for the first time, piloting the boat to pick up his father who climbed back in the vessel and drove it back to shore.
The third junior recipient of a Commissioner?s Citation was Sara Lachance, who came to the aid of a schoolmate who had threatened to take his own life.
Lachance, then 17, was chatting on her computer with a male friend who said he was going to commit suicide.
Realizing the severity of the threat, Lachance went to the teen?s house where she found him hanging in the garage and bleeding from self-inflicted cuts.
She cut him loose and stayed with his until the police and arrived.
