2018 NJSPBA Valor Awards
Lifesaving Award
Correctional Police Offi cer Donald Carson
State Corrections Local 105
Despite exhaustion,
off-duty offi cer stops to help
Local 105 State Corrections Officer
Donald Carson had just finished working
a double shift and was driving home on
Route 35 in South Brunswick. It was 9 p.m.
on June 17 when Carson passed a woman
slumped over in her car, which was on fire
after colliding with a tractor-trailer.
While driving by the accident, he was
shocked that no one had pulled over to
check on the woman. With his law enforce-
ment instincts kicking in, he knew that if
he didn’t turn around, the woman proba-
bly wouldn’t make it.
As Carson approached her car, he iden-
tified himself as an off-duty law enforce-
ment officer before pulling her out of the
vehicle to safety.
For his actions, he received a lifesaving
award at the Valor Awards in November.
Like most officers, Carson did not have
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ DECEMBER 2018
any expectations about an award. “I was
actually shocked to hear that I was being
nominated because I came home from the
incident and went to sleep, like it was any
other day,” he explains.
When asked how he felt about receiv-
ing the award, Carson expresses, “It feels
amazing. It’s a huge accomplishment to
see a lot of officers out here doing great
things, either in the prison or outside of
the prison.”
Alongside Carson was his wife Jodi, who
highlighted how glad she was to see her
husband rewarded for his hard work. “I’m
proud of him, and he definitely deserves it.
He works so hard,” Jodi extols.
Although Carson has only been an offi-
cer for two years, he was extremely grateful
to receive the honor so early in his career.
But for Carson, recognition was not the
reason he chose to turn around that day.
“I stopped because that could’ve been my
mother, or a member of my family, and I
would hope that someone would stop for
me,” he explains.
As a correctional police officer, Carson
knew that not stopping would have stayed
with him forever. “If I hadn’t stopped, it
would have stayed on my conscience,” he
confirms.