Valor Awards
In the name of the father
Civilian Gold Medal
Mr . Richard Wesner Ewing Township Local 111
Retired Ewing Township Local 111 member Patrick Wesner is lucky to have his son , Richard , around . And he would be the first one to admit how much .
“ He ’ s good in academics . Good in his personal life . He doesn ’ t give me any trouble whatsoever ,” Patrick waxes about his son . “ He ’ s calm , and he ’ s tough under pressure . You drop a bomb in his room and he would try to pull people out . He wouldn ’ t even think that the bomb went off . It wouldn ’ t faze him at all .”
A bomb dropped on the Wesner ’ s home this past June 17 . The family had gone up to bed that night , but Patrick stayed downstairs to watch television . Suddenly , Richard ’ s sister heard a noise that woke up the family .
“ When I came down the steps , my dad was lying on the floor , idle breathing ,” Richard recounted “ He had no pulse . I immediately called 9-1-1 . Then I handed my mom the phone and started CPR .”
Richard knew what he was doing , having served as a volunteer firefighter for a couple of years and having recently completed his EMT certification . But how do you respond so quickly and so effectively when you see your father lying on the floor
possibly about to succumb to heart failure ?
“ I just pushed it in the back of my mind that he was my dad ,” explained Richard of the action that was rewarded with the PBA ’ s Civilian Gold Medal of Valor . “ At the scene , he was another patient . It didn ’ t hit me until we were at the hospital what had happened .”
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Juvenile Civilian Gold Medal
Nikolas Devoe Thomas Picurro Seaside Heights Local 252
Surf and rescue
When a group of Seaside Heights Local 252 officers showed up in Nikolas Devoe ’ s high school classroom looking for him , Devoe was slightly alarmed .
The teenager was certainly not expecting law enforcement to be looking for him . And he grew even more confused when the officers wanted to find Devoe ’ s best friend and surfing buddy Thomas Picurro as well .
“ They said they needed Tom ’ s information and I thought , ‘ Oh no , what did Tom do ?’” Devoe shared .
But Devoe and Picurro were quickly notified that they were not at all in trouble . The officers were actually there to commend the boys for the lifesaving actions they made during the summer and to present them with an invitation to the NJ State PBA Valor Awards . The officers explained to Devoe and Picurro that the Valor Awards is the most prestigious banquet for heroes in the state and that they were selected to be honored with a Juvenile Civilian Gold Medal .
“ It ’ s surreal to be here ,” Devoe noted at the awards ceremony . “ I felt like what we did was just natural . It was just the right thing to do .”
Fourteen-year-old Devoe ’ s and 15-year-old Picurro ’ s actions were extraordinary , though , as the boys selflessly rescued three
men from a rip current on June 9 .
It was an average summer day in Seaside Heights for Devoe and Picurro , who met up as they normally do to go surfing . As the two walked along the busy shoreline with their surfboards , they noticed three males in their 20s yelling in distress in the ocean . The boys looked at the men , and then back at each other . Within seconds they agreed that they were going in to attempt the rescue .
CONTINUED ON PAGE 76 www . njcopsmagazine . com ■ DECEMBER 2017 75