While growing up, Tejera always want-
ed to be the best person he could be for
the single mother who raised him. The
absence of a father figure caused him
to often turn to Puccio for advice. It’s
no wonder Puccio became Tejera’s role
model, so much so that he made it his
mission to follow in his footsteps and
serve his community.
“I fought for a very long time to get to
where I am today,” notes Tejera, who now
works the same shift that Puccio was on
the night baby Tejera landed in his arms.
“There are some things you can’t put into
words, you can only feel. That’s what it
was like at the ceremony to have Puccio
there.”
As for Puccio, pinning his badge num-
ber on Tejera has brought the highlight
of his career full circle — from the night
he held baby Leonel in the back of the
police car to the moment that same per-
son took an oath of service for a promis-
ing career ahead.
“It’s surreal pinning the badge on a
young man whose life you saved and
then you’re standing next to him, realiz-
ing that if it wasn’t for you, he may not
be here,” Puccio insists. “I just feel lucky
that I was able to touch Leonel’s life and
move him in a direction that today, he is
a police officer.”
At the swearing in of Perth Amboy Local 13 member Leonel Tejera, mementos depicting the incident
when his life was saved as an infant were on display.
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