Man in the water
2015
r
Valo
DS
AWAR
Mainland officers face off against suspect
hiding in the marsh
UNIT CITATION
LIEUTENANT MICHAEL BORDONARO AND K-9
PARTNER “SHOOTER”
DETECTIVE SERGEANT MICHAEL HUGHES
SERGEANT ALBERT MAIORANO
SERGEANT STEVEN SWANKOWSKI
DETECTIVE JOHN HEIM
PATROLMAN TIM CANALE
PATROLMAN GARY JOHNSON
MAINLAND LOCAL 77
SERGEANT ANDREW LEONARD
PATROLMAN MICHAEL GAVIN
DETECTIVE JEREMY NIRENBERG
ATLANTIC CITY LOCAL 24
60
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
DECEMBER 2015
Egg Harbor Township Lieutenant Michael Bordonaro keeps a simple perspective on what happened in November 2013 while pursuing
an armed suspect.
“I went out and did my job,” Bordonaro said.
Officers from several agencies were involved in a search for the
felon, who had fled State Police in a high-speed chase and ended up
in the west Atlantic City area. The suspect’s car was found in a marsh,
which prompted an intensive manhunt.
Egg Harbor Detective John Heim and Patrolman Gary Johnson
viewed the scene from a building overlooking the marsh and noticed
suspicious movement nearby. As officers moved in, the suspect
popped up out of the water, pointing a rifle at the officers.
Bordonaro released his K-9 partner named Shooter – who was
injured in the incident – to quell the suspect before officers fired at the
man to end the threat.
“(I) didn’t know what it was at first. (We) ran up on the guy,
identified him as the person we were looking for (and) gave him several commands,” Bordonaro said. “The dog ran out, did his job. Based
on the guy’s actions, we were forced to do what we had to do – fire our
weapons.”
Added Egg Harbor Township Chief Ray Davis, “It’s good that good
triumphed over evil and that our officers made it home safely.”