POLICE WEEK 2015: TOP COPS
Trenton Tops… again
A harrowing ordeal led two Trenton cops from ambush to awards
n BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
T
here must be something in the water
running through Trenton that makes
its cops so…“Top.”
For the second year running, the valor
demonstrated by Trenton’s finest propelled its officers to Washington D.C. to be
honored at the National Association of
Police Organization (NAPO) Top Cops
Awards. Following on the heels of Trenton
Detectives James Letts and Edgar Rios,
along with Mercer County Sheriff's Officer
William Miller, who were recognized at
last year’s ceremony, Trenton Officers
Robert Albanowski and Marlon Parrott
were honored in their own right for an
encounter with a deranged gunman hellbent on avoiding another prison sentence.
On Nov. 13, 2014, Albanowski and Parrott were responding to a 9-1-1 call by a
resident who had been driven out of his
house by a man armed with a gun who
chased the barely-clothed victim into the
cold winter street.
“We had a description of a black male
with clear glasses, green pants and a black
shirt,” recalled Parrott. “We arrive on
scene and see a man fitting that description chasing family members out of a
home, black gun in hand.”
Before the police vehicle could come to
a full stop, the gunman turned to the car
and for a split second locked eyes with
Albanowski, a 14-year veteran who was in
the driver’s seat and closest to the suspect.
“I leaned to the left to put the car in
park and he’s right in my windshield looking right at me,” Albanowski confirmed.
“All of a sudden I’m dodging bullets.”
To make up for all those times when he
had to find an accommodating baseball
glove or pair of scissors, on that day, being
a lefty possibly saved Albanowski’s life.
“(The bullets were) missing me
because I was leaning to the right to get
my gun out and return fire,” he explained.
“Thank God I’m left handed.”
Albanowski managed to remove his
weapon and return seven or eight shots
Robert Albanowski and Marlon Parrott
through his closed driver’s side window.
That stopped the barrage and allowed the
officers an opportunity to regroup and go
on the offensive as the gunman retreated.
With glass shards in their faces, and
ears ringing from the spontaneous closequarters shootout, the officers were nothing short of disoriented, but they knew
the threat was still at large.
Parrott exited the vehicle first and a
running gun battle ensued. The officers
chased the suspect through houses before
he dived into an alleyway where he was
finally subdued and placed in cuffs, alive
for the time being (he would succumb to
his wounds hours later in the hospital).
Albanowski and Parrott then took a
moment to communicate for the first
time during the ordeal, checking on each
other with the assumption that they had
both been shot in the melee. Luckily –
miraculously, really – Albanowski
emerged with minor cuts and lacerations
from the shattered glass, while Parrott was
treated for high blood pressure and heart
rate. Both officers were released from the
hospital that day.
“It was the scariest day of my life, by
far,” admitted Parrott about his third
shooting in a 13-year career.
Six months later, he and Albanowski
were sitting in the ballroom at
Washington D.C.’s JW Marriot hearing the
tales of other Top Cop nominees told by
celebrities and honored by the presence
of Vice President Joe Biden. And the only
shots directed at them on May 12 came
from the cameras of family, friends and
their brothers in blue who were in awe of
these heroes who fought their way out of
– and won – nothing short of an ambush.
“The more it sinks in, that we were
picked as the only ones from New Jersey,
it must have been a bigger deal than we
thought,” Albanowski pondered. “It’s
really humbling.”
Adds Parrott: “It’s surreal to be here. To
be voted on by your peers for your hard
work and dedication, it made it all worthwhile.” d
www.njcopsmagazine.com
n
JUNE 2015
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