NJ Cops Dec17 | Page 62

Valor Awards Meritorious Service Lieutenant George Sestan-Raposo Officer Robert Garcia Officer Xavier Romo North Bergen Local 18 The Three Musketeers In law enforcement, the more backup that you have, the mer- rier. For Lieutenant George Sestan-Raposo, Officer Robert Garcia and Officer Xavier Romo of North Bergen Local 18, this statement definitely holds true. On Feb. 5, Garcia received a broadcast of a suspicious vehicle that may be occupied by a male with a gun. He located the vehi- cle in a Quick Chek parking lot, but it was unoccupied when he arrived. He observed a male make his way over to the vehicle and quickly confronted him. Suddenly, a struggle ensued between the male and Garcia as he attempted to detain the suspect, who then made his way into the vehicle. The suspect started the engine and drove off, running over Garcia’s foot in the process. As Garcia went after the vehicle, Sestan-Raposo and Romo joined him. They followed the vehicle into an alley where the suspect exited and ran into a residence. When the officers ap- proached the residence, the suspect opened fire upon them. Fortunately, the officers set up a perimeter and held the suspect at bay until more officers were able to arrive and take him into custody. The three of them all work together in the patrol division, with Sestan-Raposo having been on the force for 14 years, Garcia for seven and Romo, still fairly new, for two-and-a-half years. Both Garcia and Romo have military experience – Garcia being an Iraqi War veteran and Romo spending four years in the Ma- rine Corps – which they say gave them the confidence to defend themselves against the suspect. In addition, North Bergen is an accredited agency, so Local 18 is always providing the officers a multitude of training opportu- Meritorious Service Officer Eric Harris Officer Lawrence DiFabio, Jr. Toms River Local 137 Second time around It was surreal for Officer Eric Harris to return to the NJ State Valor Awards for a second time as a Toms River Local 137 offi- cer recipient. After receiving a Gold Medal of Valor in 2006 for a shooting incident that resulted in him getting run over by a stolen car, Harris could hardly believe that he was living reality when he was once again staring down the barrel of a gun on July 17, 2016. “I couldn’t believe that this was happening again,” Harris ad- mitted. Harris was investigating a suspicious vehicle parked near a bulkhead around 11:30 p.m. Upon his request for the suspect to step out of the vehicle, the suspect pulled out a gun a