Civilians, Officers Honored by Police Chief and Council

Several civilians and police officers were honored at the start of the  

The awards recognized actions the individuals took during the past year to solve crimes, apprehend suspects, and save lives. The township’s Office of the Year was also recognized.

Honored Tuesday by township Police Chief Daniel Posluszny, Mayor Jim Kownacki and members of council were the following:

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Elizabeth Morgan was honored for helping police solve several burglaries earlier this year.

Interviewed by police after a , she “remembered seeing an individual on a bicycle earlier in the day,” Posluszny explained. “As a direct result of what she saw that day, … That one piece of information probably saved many more burglaries from happening.”

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Jennifer Guider was honored for helping police catch a suspect in a case of identity theft. Guider was at her job .

“An individual came into the bank and tried withdrawing a large sum of money. [Guider] was aware – from releases that had been given by the bank – that this individual had been taking from the victim’s account,” Posluszny related. “Very calmly, and very astutely, she held [the suspect] off until the police were able to arrive. This individual was charged. She had stolen almost $11,000 in identity theft. It was a large, organized crime ring. Without Ms. Guider’s ability to do that, it may have cost many more victims several thousands of dollars.”

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Michael Fink was honored for providing information that helped police identify and arrest a suspect in the .

Fink, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service, was in the area of Brunswick Pike and Texas Avenue. “At the same time, three individuals entered Hamilton Jewelers with ski masks and weapons and broke a display case in the store. They stole over $120,000 worth of jewelry and fled the store. Mr. Fink, not knowing what was going on, observed three individuals run into a vehicle. Very astutely he wrote the license plate down,” Posluszny explained.

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Officer Marc Caponi and Officer Andrew Lee were honored for the actions they took on .

 “Officer Lee and Officer Caponi were on patrol [in the area of] the Howard Johnson motel. They tried to affect a motor vehicle stop. The vehicle ended up taking off on them and proceeded down Route 1. [The suspects] were throwing items out the window. They chased this vehicle into the City of Trenton, where a foot chase began, and they were able to apprehend two of the suspects. When they went back they found two loaded handguns with hollow-point bullets that [the suspects] had thrown out the window,” Posluszny said. “[The officers’] outstanding work took two guns off the street and probably prevented crimes in the future.”

“I just want to thank my midnight crew – without them we wouldn’t have been successful in doing this. I also want to thank my superior officer, Sgt. [Chris] Longo, who did an excellent job in assisting us and giving us leadership in order to apprehend these suspects at night. Thank you very much,” Lee told council and the audience after receiving the award.

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Officer Marc Caponi, Officer Sean Kerins and Officer Shawn Sudol were honored for .

“All three officers were basically on a stakeout of the Lawrence Shopping Center. We had had a burglary at the Radio Shack in the shopping center. Officer Kerins saw two individuals walking in the back of the shopping center. As he approached them, they both ran. Himself, Officer Caponi and Officer Sudol, very impressively, ran both of the suspects down and caught them. They solved the burglary and several other burglaries from these two individuals,” Posluszny said. “It was outstanding work, it was alertness, and it was great running skills, too.”

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Detective Sgt. Joseph Amodio and Officer Robert Loveless were honored for their work as evidence technicians, particularly for “lifting” fingerprints from crime scenes and using that evidence to identify suspects in those crimes.

“Officers have been able to lift fingerprints from different types of crimes and get “a hit,” we call it. In other words, there’s a large database in the State of New Jersey that has fingerprints [on file] from every individual who has been arrested of a crime. So they’re able to lift a fingerprint from a crime scene and match that up,” Posluszny explained. “Any time an officer gets over 10 ‘hits’ or 10 identified suspects, we give them an award. Sgt. Amodio has had 11 and officer Loveless has had 16. So it’s really outstanding police work. That’s 27 crimes that were solved because of their hard work.”

Amodio was also honored with a second award for helping Hamilton Township police identify a suspect in a bank robbery that took place in that municipality on June 23, 2011.

“Back last year in June, a Chase Bank in Hamilton Township was robbed. The suspect was a male dressed as a female and was wearing a distinct type of dress. He brandished a semiautomatic handgun when he entered the bank,” Posluszny said. “Sgt. Amodio was working at the Quaker Bridge Mall. As he was walking through, he saw a woman with the exact type of dress. He remembered that from the pictures [of the bank robbery suspect]. Joe went up to her and said, ‘That’s a really nice dress. Where did you get that from?’ She told him where she got it from… He passed that information on to Hamilton Township. They tracked it back to the store and who bought the dress and solved the armed robbery because of that.”

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Saed Quituqa, Najib F. Alsahoum, Officer Shawn Carroll and Sgt. Michael Yeh were honored for their actions in saving the life of Zaed Quituqa who was

Saed Quituqa is Zaed’s father. Zaed, having fully recovered from the near-fatal incident, stood alongside his father during the award presentation. Alsahoum was unable to attend the presentation.

“Zaed touched a live wire of some sort. He was on a scissor jack doing it and was actually electrocuted. The gentleman who is not here this evening, Mr. Alsahoum, was on the thing and had the quickness of mind to kick [Zaed] in the leg so he could disconnect the electric current,” Posluszny related. “Mr. [Zaed] Quituqa, in simple terms, went down for the count. He was clinically deceased. Saed began CPR, as did Mr. Alsahoum. The police were called and the ambulance was called. That’s when Officer Carroll and Sgt. Yeh came and brought out an external defibrillator, which we carry in our [police] vehicles. They were able to apply that to Zaed. It shocked him and they continued CPR and you can see the results [of Zaed being alive today].”

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Officer Steve Simon and New Jersey State Fire Marshal’s Office Inspector Margaret Knight were honored for their actions in capturing the driver of a stolen vehicle, who allegedly fled on foot after crashing the vehicle on Jan 4 of this year.

Simon was unable to attend the award presentation, as he was busy Tuesday evening investigating a traffic accident on Route 1 involving an allegedly intoxicated driver.

“Officer Simon tried to stop a vehicle on Princeton Avenue. The vehicle took off on him. It was actually a stolen vehicle. Ms. Knight saw what was happening and followed… It turned into a foot chase through some backyards with the officer running after the suspect,” Posluszny said. “Ms. Knight stayed with him the entire time and had parked her vehicle on Ohio Avenue. The suspect came out and saw the [fire inspector’s] vehicle and tried to take the ride. He couldn’t get it started. Ms. Knight came up to help Officer Simon and the two of them were able to apprehend the gentleman. He was eventually charged with several crimes. She did a wonderful job, in something that was high-stress and moving along very quickly.”

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Officer Marc Poveromo was honored as the township’s 2012 Officer of the Year.

“Marc is here today because Marc is a great officer. That’s why he’s here,” Posluszny said. “Marc all-around does a wonderful job every day he comes to work. He’s the Lawrence Township Police Officer of the Year and will be honored by the Lawrence Township Knights of Columbus on June 4 with a dinner. Marc is an officer who is extremely dependable and his investigations are always right on the point. They’ve made a difference and solved many crimes. He’s active in enforcement activities. I know from personal experience – I’ve seen him in different situations – he’s very tactically sound... Whatever he does, he empties the tank when he does it. That’s really what the Police Officer of the Year is – somebody day-in, day-out that can be dependable.”

(Note: Three of those who received awards Tuesday – Lee, Caponi and Simon – are among the seven Lawrence Township officers who last month filed a against the township and township officials.)