2018 NJSPBA Valor Awards
Meritorious Service Award
Offi cer Thomas Connors
Offi cer Gary Yarnall
West Milford Local 162
A loaded shotgun ups the ante
When they entered a residence on
April 11, the unmistakable “chook chook”
sound of a shotgun shell being cham-
bered immediately upped the ante for
West Milford Local 162 Officers Gary Yar-
nall and Thomas Connors.
Dispatched to a call of a suicidal person,
the officers were advised en route that the
individual suffered from mental illness
and had access to weapons. Following the
sound of the now-loaded weapon coming
from a back bedroom down the hallway,
the officers didn’t hesitate to enter the un-
known.
“It’s an everyday call you always get,”
Connors explains. “But when you walk
in and hear a gun load in the other room,
everything changes. At the same time,
both a lot and nothing goes through your
mind. But you just keep doing your job.”
Approaching with caution, the officers
entered the room and saw a man hold-
ing a shotgun in his right hand, pointing
the barrel at his face, yelling that he was
going to shoot himself. While both the
officers and the man’s grandparents were
trying to talk him down, Connors grabbed
the opportunity to spring into action. He
holstered his own weapon and jumped on
the man, grabbing the shotgun barrel and
pointing it in a safe direction.
“There’s a moment when you have to
make a split-second call,” Connors ex-
presses. “The whole thing happened in
less than 10 seconds.”
At that point, Yarnall jumped in to assist
Connors, causing everyone to fall to the
floor. Connors took control of the shot-
gun and made it safe while Yarnall contin-
ued to brawl with the actor. Connors then
assisted Yarnall in gaining control of the
subject, who they then transported to the
hospital for treatment.
“It was an abnormal call—responding
to someone with an actual loaded weap-
on and having to get hands-on with him,”
Local 162 State Delegate Matthew Kloo af-
firms. “These gentlemen went above and
beyond and need to be recognized.”
Meritorious Service Award
Offi cer Omnya Alahwol
Plainfi eld Local 19
Won’t back down
Plainfield Local 19 member Omnya
Alahwol had been on the job for less than
a year when she was dispatched to the
scene of a man being assaulted with a
hammer on July 8.
Upon arriving at the scene, a crowd was
gathered in the street where the attacker
had just struck. Alahwol fearlessly sprang
out of her patrol car to chase after the
suspect, who had taken off on foot. With
only six months on the job and standing a
mere 5 feet, Alahwol proved that nothing
would hold her back from running toward
danger.
“The whole street was out, surround-
ing the suspect,” Alahwol remembered. “I
knew I couldn’t back down.”
The chase came to a halt when the at-
tacker ran on to a front porch and turned
toward the officer. Facing the suspect,
Alahwol spotted a shotgun in the attack-
er’s waistband. But still, she did not back
down. Alahwol stuck to her training as she
drew her sidearm and commanded the
suspect to drop his weapon.
“Finger off the trigger unless you’re get-
ting ready to shoot,” was the tactic that
Alahwol repeated in her head while con-
fronting the attacker. “He didn’t point at
me. He wasn’t a threat at that point, so I
was able to stick to that.”
The suspect eventually complied and
placed the gun on the ground, and Alah-
wol took him into custody. It wasn’t until
after Alahwol put her own weapon away
that the adrenaline hit her, as she looked
back on the courageous actions she had
taken to prevent the suspect from causing
any more harm.
“It’s just in me,” Alahwol said about
what gives her confidence on the job.
“Sometimes I have to use verbal versus
physical actions. I just put it all together
and assess what I need to do.”
Alahwol was a nurse before she decid-
ed to follow her dream of becoming a law
enforcement officer. Her fearless actions
and instinct to run toward danger proved
that there is no limit to what Alahwol can
do on the job.
www.njcopsmagazine.com
■ DECEMBER 2018 57