9 CPD officers honored as "Officers Of The Month" for helping shooting and sexual assault victims
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Several Chicago police officers were recognized Thursday by the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation as their Officers of the Month.
Officers Artur Tomkow and Nicholas Cipicchio and Sergeants Mark Lemus and Fred Marcellino were honored for helping a rape victim in November, and then tracking down the suspect.
The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation said the four officers saw a woman in distress near Granville and Washtenaw on Nov. 10, and she told them she'd been the victim of a "brutal and prolonged sexual assault," as her attacker held a knife to her throat and threatened to "cut her into little pieces so that she would never be found."
As the man assaulted her, he choked her until she was unconscious, and when she woke up, she was able to escape.
The woman was able to take police to the scene of the attack, and they found her attacker inside an apartment in the 6200 block of North Washtenaw, where they arrested him and recovered key evidence. He has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Five other officers – Sgt. Daniel Hodges, and Officers Ivan Lopez, Joseph Shanahan, Martin Kirkel, and Orlando Sanchez – were honored for helping two people who had been shot during a domestic incident in April by providing first aid even as the shooter was still in the house.
Officers were responding to a call of a person shot in an apartment building the 4200 block of West Ford City Drive on April 3, and heard a woman screaming for help when they arrived. The woman said she had been shot, and the gunman was still in the apartment.
Police have said the gunman had shot a 48-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man, and barricaded himself inside the apartment.
Three officers were able to go in and take cover, and begin rendering aid to the 78-year-old man, when the gunman came out of a back room and fired two shots at police. The three officers were able to drag the woman out into the hallway, before police set up a perimeter and called in a SWAT team.
After police continued negotiating with the gunman in an attempt to convince him to surrender, talking to him for nearly two hours, the shooter came out and suddenly raised his gun at police, who shot and killed him.
The two victims survived their injuries.
"The professionalism, and the degree that these guys worked together on this particular event, and on a day-to-day basis, goes without mention. So for that, I'm truly appreciative, and the city of Chicago, and all the citizens that come in here are truly grateful. So, guys, great job. Thank you," Chicago Police Cmdr. Bryan Spreyne said.