2016 NJSPBA
Valor Awards
PUTTING THE TEAM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 55
didn’t really gauge the magnitude of it until later in the day when
we found out what happened,” Brown admitted.
While the incident culminated in the gunman eventually taking his own life, the tactics and heroics displayed by Sergeants
Brown and Burger saved the lives of their fellow officers.
“I think they just loved their job and went back to the academy,” Brown described of the officers’ motivation to join SWAT.
“(It takes) a lot of practice; then you’re waiting for game day
when these skills come into play.”
Bronze
Medal of
At the NJ State PBA Valor Awards, during which Brown and
Burger were awarded the Bronze Medal of Valor, Brown contemplated the caliber of officer it takes to become a SWAT member
who responds to a call like the one that earned them the recognition.
“I would say not all officers would react the same way,” he
pondered. “Some officers might take the long way around to
the call. They’re not here tonight. The ones that are here tonight
go straight to the call and think about their sisters and brothers
over everything else.” d
Courage under firearm
Two of Bernardsville’s finest bring peace to
dramatic situation
Valor
Sergeant
Jon-Paul Tay
Officer Robert
Schlittler
At a moment when a person’s life
tilts swiftly in the balance, law enforcement officers have nothing to trust but
Bernardsville
training and guts. When Sergeant JonLocal 365
Paul Tay and Officer Robert Schlittler
responded to a domestic violence call
with a gun involved on May 8, neither knew what they might
encounter on the other si de of the call. But the presence of
a firearm meant they had little time to assess the threat and
even less time to act.
When they entered the residence just after 2 a.m., the officers were greeted by a woman running toward them, who
appeared to be covered in blood – the result of a fresh wound
to the head. After they ushered the woman toward the door,
Tay and Schlittler encountered 47-year-old James Tyrone,
brandishing a handgun, taking aim at the officers and taking
another person inside the residence as hostage.
A standoff ensued. Tay and Schlittler attempted to negotiate with an increasingly unstable Tyrone, deflecting his demands for the officers to kill him, and diffusing his threats
that he would kill his hostage. After several minutes of tense
energy, Tyrone’s hostage was able to grab the weapon from his
hands, at which point Tay and Schlittler descended on both
the hostage and assailant, neutralizing the threat and causing
no bodily injury to either party.
The officers immediately recovered a Walther P99 9mm
handgun from the scene, fully loaded. Tyrone later was transported to an area hospital for psychiatric observation.
“The responding officers did an incredible job under difficult circumstances,” said Bernardsville Police Chief Kevin Valentine. At a moment when they could have lost their
self-possession, causing injury or death to themselves and
the involved parties, Tay and Schlittler maintained their composure and professionalism, and trusted their training and
their instincts to bring a life-threatening situation to a peaceable conclusion. d
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■ DECEMBER 2016