ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolón recognized commendable officers and community members at the department’s Quarterly Awards Ceremony Wednesday afternoon.
“This awards ceremony highlights the best of the best of the Orlando Police Department and of community members and businesses who have demonstrated their deep commitment to keeping the city of Orlando, our city beautiful, a safe community for all,” Rolón said in a statement.
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Among the praise lauded on the group, Rolón handed out the Good Citizenship Award, Unit Citation and Life Saving Award.
“It’s an opportunity to remind our citizens that there’s a lot of great work going on,” Rolón said.
At the ceremony, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Property and Evidence Unit was honored with the Good Citizenship Award for quickly assisting with the identification and arrest of a man wanted for punching and stabbing a hotel clerk.
The incident occurred on March 2 when police said 35-year-old Cordarryl Demby entered the Best Western Inn at 2014 West Colonial Drive, jumped the counter and proceeded to stab the 70-year-old front desk clerk three times before taking the cash register and fleeing from the lobby. The hotel clerk was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
Two days later, the suspect’s photograph and information about the crime, which were pushed out on the department’s social media sites, were viewed by Lee Buscampel, an employee of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Evidence Unit.
Buscampel recognized the suspect as the person who visited his unit on the day of the attack wearing the same clothes and notified his supervisor, Timere Mazion. The unit’s Evidence Technician Danele Taylor confirmed she assisted Demby on March 2 and positively identified him.
Units Manager Viet Pham was then informed and he contacted the lead detective in the case providing the relevant information his team gathered on the suspect, leading to Demby’s arrest on March 7.
The Orlando Police Department Unit Citation was also awarded to the agency’s community service officers who helped in their response to the 43-car pileup on State Road 408 in Orange County back in April.
While traveling in his marked patrol vehicle, CSO Torres observed a crash in his rearview mirror on April 15 at the Conway Toll Plaza and immediately pulled over to check for injuries. The minor four-vehicle crash ended up causing a crash involving 39 additional vehicles feet from the first collision, which resulted in one person being taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
An emergency channel was established among CSO Supervisor Everett IV, CSO Akins, CSO Brown, CSO Vazquez-Perez and Recruit CSO Brown who worked to gather all patient information and tow 28 vehicles from the crash scene.
The community service officers cleared the scene in three hours and wrote a 79-page accident report.
Additionally, two officers were granted an Orlando Police Life Saving Award for quickly tending to a victim’s gunshot wounds back in May. Officers Gruler and Casado responded to East Church Street and Liberty Avenue around 4:30 a.m. on May 16, finding a man shot and suffering from an arterial bleed on the left leg.
They applied pressure to the man’s other wounds and fashioned a tourniquet to wrap around the leg until the Orlando Fire Department arrived and transported the victim to the hospital in critical condition.
“The medical equipment that we have, the tourniquets that we have, it’s honestly a blessing because we were able to save this young man’s life,” Ofc. Gruler said.
This ceremony comes months before Rolón is set to retire and Deputy Chief Eric Smith takes over the position.
“These are one of the best occasions that we can share with the public,” Rolón said.