Valor Awards
A rescue nine stories up
On Nov. 15, 2016, Lieutenant Christopher Plowucha
and Officer Adan Ramirez responded to a report of an
emotionally disturbed person on the 9th floor of a park-
ing deck. They were told that a young girl was hanging off
the side of the building and threatening to jump.
Upon arrival at the park-
Lifesaving Award
ing deck, the officers made
Lieutenant
contact with the 19-year-old
Christopher Plowucha
woman, who was sitting on
Officer Adan Ramirez
the outer edge of the wall. Of-
New Brunswick Local 23
ficer Ramirez established a di-
alogue with the woman, who
was at times calm and erratic. Several times, she moved
as though she was about to jump from the structure.
Officer Ramirez maintained contact with the woman
for 25 minutes in frigid, rainy weather, talking with her
and trying to convince her to come back over the railing.
With his actions, he was able to distract her so that Lieu-
tenant Plowucha could approach her undetected and
physically pull her to safety.
Ramirez, who has 16 years on the force and is in the pa-
trol division, was appreciative of this honor.
“It feels nice to be recognized,” said Ramirez.
Plowucha, who has 18 years on the force, is lieutenant
watch commander of the patrol division. He echoed
Ramirez’s sentiments, and he also pointed out that any
officer in their situation would have done the same thing.
“It’s very humbling and nice to be honored,” said Plow-
ucha. “I don’t want to say it’s not a big deal, but guys do
things like this every day and don’t get any recognition.”
d
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found Creighton rushing to stop the victim’s bleeding by using
bed linens as a makeshift tourniquet, she quickly took hold of
the victim’s other wrist.
“(The job) is always unpredictable. You never really know
what you’re walking into,” Connors explained. “You just have
to think really quickly on your feet.”
Suicide prevention and awareness training are constants
in corrections units, and officers like Creighton and Connors
have to constantly be prepared to save the lives of inmates.
Mandatory courses in first aid and mental health are what led
the Local 167 members to take such quick and efficient action
while using the resources available to them in the prison cell.
“It’s second nature for us to go into an incident like that,”
Creighton admitted. “My main goal is to make sure I can se-
cure the scene in order to attend to that victim.”
Creighton and Connor’s swift actions to respond to the vic-
tim and safely transfer him to the infirmary for stitches and
psychiatric care made them lifesaving heroes who deserved
to be recognized outside of the walls of the correction facili-
ty. They both felt honored to be at the PBA Valor Awards, but
Creighton stressed that the lifesaving work of corrections offi-
cers is simply part of their training.
“Corrections officers deal with it 24/7/365,” he remarked.
“The people we save inside of those prisons and jails have
mothers, fathers and kids, but you don’t hear enough about
how we save that person or changed that person’s life to be-
come productive citizens outside.” d
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