The Vancouver Police Department packed the house Tuesday night at St. Joseph Catholic Church to honor a slew of officers for their skill, bravery and dedication in 2015.
At the department’s annual awards and recognition ceremony, Sgt. Spencer Harris earned a Certificate of Department Recognition for his work as incident commander while dealing with a suicidal man threatening to jump from the 39th Street overpass above Interstate 5 in October.
Officials shut down the freeway as Harris, with a large group of officers from multiple agencies, wrangled commercial vehicles to park beneath the overpass and edged the man closer to an embankment under the roadway, both in an effort to limit how far the man might fall.
Officers eventually pulled the man to safety.
Officers Christopher Douville, Richard Lagerquist and Sean Dumas earned Certificates of Department Recognition for a January trespassing call that turned out to be a violent assault.
They chased down and captured a man, armed with a Taser, who was running from the scene, and eventually tied him to the assault.
The victim later told officers that she thought she was going to die, and the officers saved her life.
The department awarded Officer Katie Endresen with a Certificate of Department Recognition for her work mentoring local youths and her extensive volunteering with the Police Activities League.
Three officers earned Lifesaving Awards in recognition of their quick thinking and decisive action on duty, actions that saved the lives of three people.
In March, Cpl. Drue Russell answered a call to find a man at a parking lot who had been shot three times. Responding EMTs arrived to find Russell had effectively stanched the bleeding — one of the wounds appeared to be an arterial bleed — well enough so that an ambulance could take the victim to a hospital for treatment.
In October, Officer Christopher Douville was called to check out a man acting strangely on Mill Plain Boulevard near Interstate 205. The man was threatening to jump from the overpass.
As Douville worked to help calm the man, the man climbed onto the overpass railing and began to wobble. Douville snatched him from the railing before he could fall.
Officer Lee Gelsinger responded to a call about a heart problem on East 18th Street in May. Gelsinger employed a automated emergency defibrillator on the man and performed chest compressions.
Paramedics arrived and brought the man to a hospital, and later contacted the department to commend Gelsinger for his actions, which likely saved the patient’s life.
Sgt. Jack Anderson received a Meritorious Service Award for his actions and professionalism during the pursuit of a suspect, which resulted in the death of his police dog, Ike, in September. Anderson also was recognized with a Special Service Award for his expertise and dedication with training police dogs, both locally and throughout the region.
Also earning a Meritorious Service Award was Cpl. Bill Pardue.
During a May standoff, Pardue was able to build a rapport with a man who had armed himself with improvised weapons and was known to be dangerous based on previous law enforcement encounters.
When the man bristled severely at any other contact with police, Pardue was able to talk the man into disarming himself and surrendering.
In June, Officer Brian Viles and his police dog, Enzo, assisted with the pursuit of an armed and dangerous suspect who ran into a residential area following a vehicle chase.
At one point, the suspect leveled a handgun at law enforcement.
Viles and Enzo, with a SWAT team, found the man hiding under a shed. Viles sent Enzo in, though the man was armed, and officers were able to apprehend the man.
For his actions during the pursuit, the department also honored Viles with a Meritorious Service Award.
For their efforts with the county’s Safe Streets Task Force, the department’s anti-gang organization, Vancouver police Sgt. Tim Huberty, Cpl. Tim Martin, Officer Rodrigo Osorio and Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Erik Zimmerman — along with Chad Rounds of the FBI and Dustin Pratt and Dan Johnson of the state Department of Corrections — earned team commendations.
Among other things, the team, following a three-month investigation, stopped a large-scale drug trafficking operation at a multi-residential property on Norris Road.
Also earning a team commendation from the department, this time for their work dealing with the homeless camp in downtown Vancouver, were Lt. Kathy McNicholas, Sgt. Tom Ryan, Sgt. Deb Libbey, Sgt. Jay Alie, Cpl. Duane Boynton, Russell, Cpl. Stu Hemstock, Osorio, Officer Jeff Anaya, Officer Sean Donaldson, Officer Tyler Chavers, Officer Brian Schaffer, Officer Kevin Barton, recruit Officer Zachary Allred, recruit Officer Tonya Wollstein, recruit Officer Heather St. Pierre and department Public Information Coordinator Kim Kapp.
Also recognized were Danielle Ireland and Addi Dearinger — the proprietors at Earth Glaze and Fire — for their gift of custom-glazed coffee mugs to each of about 200 officers on the force.
Kim Bertrand and her 7-year-old twins, Luke and Matt, also got a nod and thanks from the department for their gift of medallions of St. Christopher to each officer.
New this year was the Career Service Medal, an honor for officers with 20 years in law enforcement, at least 15 years with the Vancouver Police Department. Fifty-eight officers were recognized for their lasting service:
Officer Eddie Alba
Officer Brett Bailey
Sgt. Mark Blaisdell
Detective Carole Boswell
Cpl. Duane Boynton
Cpl. Jim Burgara
Sgt. Mike Chylack
Lt. Scott Creager
Sgt. Mike Davis
Sgt. Steve Dobbs
Officer Steve Donahue
Officer Roger Evans
Cpl. Charlie Ford
Sgt. Aaron Gibson
Sgt. Joe Graaff
Sgt. Andy Hamlin
Cpl. Stuart Hemstock
Sgt. Dave Henderson
Clp. Marshall Henderson
Sgt. Mark Hochhalter
Sgt. Tim Huberty
Officer John Janisch
Sgt. Pat Johns
Sgt. Pat Kennedy
Cmdr. Dave King
Sgt. Barb Kipp
Detective Barb Knoeppel
Lt. Mike Knotts
Sgt. Therese Kubala
Officer Tim Lear
Officer Ed Letarte
Assistant Chief Mike Lester
Sgt. Deb Libbey
Lt. Doug Luse
Lt. Kathy McNicholas
Officer Adam Millard
Lt. Steve Neal
Officer Chris Neill
Sgt. Kris Nowak
Officer Ed Prentice
Lt. Troy Price
Sgt. John Pfister
Cpl. Rey Reynolds
Cpl. Doug Rickard
Cpl. Drue Russell
Sgt. Tom Ryan
Officer Tom Sawyer
Cpl. Robert Schoene
Officer Taylor Smarr
Officer Jeff Starks
Officer Ron Stevens
Assistant Chief Chris Sutter
Officer Tim Thompson
Sgt. Rod Trumpf
Officer James White
Cmdr. Michael Whitney
Detective Lawrence Zapata
Officer Greg Zimmerman
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Correction appended: This article originally misspelled Dustin Pratt’s name.
