Retired Perth Amboy Local 13 member Kenneth Puccio (right) pins a badge with his former number
on newly hired Officer Leonel Tejera.
THE CIRCLE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 43
pay it forward. Even without having any
memory of the incident that saved his
life, Leonel still grew up to admire Puccio
as a role model, father figure and friend.
“I wanted to become a cop throughout
my life,” Tejera explains. “What inspired
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ FEBRUARY 2019
me was him. I wanted to help people.”
On display at the swearing-in cere-
mony were old newspaper clippings
and black-and-white photographs from
when Puccio was recognized by the press
and Perth Amboy City Council for saving
an infant’s life. Puccio also made sure
that he brought along the sentimental
thank-you note written by Tejera’s moth-
er that he held on to all these years. The
letter read:
To Officer Puccio,
Thank you so much. God bless
you and your family.
As a mom, I will never forget you
and neither will Leonel.
— Carmen and Leonel
As it turned out, fate would cause
Puccio and Tejera to cross paths more
than once after that spring night on Am-
boy Avenue. The two were first reunited
years later, when Puccio picked his son
up from kindergarten and realized that
Tejera was in the same class. But Tejera
doesn’t remember meeting Puccio un-
til fifth grade, when his D.A.R.E. officer
turned out to be the cop who saved his
life.
“He asked if I remembered him,” Te-
jera remembers. “And then he told the
story in front of the whole class.”
That would be the first of many times
throughout Tejera’s life that he listened
to Puccio tell the famous story from his
childhood in front of an audience. When-
ever Tejera passed Puccio on the road, he
made sure to pull over to say hello and
catch up. If there were others nearby,
there was a good chance Puccio would
again rattle off the story of how they met.