One officer carried a woman in labor through the snow. Six officers from E District formed a caravan to rescue stranded motorists. Another hitched a ride with a snowmobiler to get to work.
During the Blizzard of 2022 that paralyzed Western New York, Buffalo’s police officers were faced with life-threatening scenarios they had never imagined before.
“During a lot of emergency stressful situations, you have to improvise. You have to take what you have within your training and your plans and improvise – kind of call an audible and put it to work,” said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
Last week, the police department held an awards ceremony to honor some of the heroes of the storm. In an old courtroom on an upper floor of the public safety building downtown, family members watched and snapped cellphone photos as the officers and a few civilians received their commendations from Mayor Byron W. Brown and the commissioner:
Mayor’s Award of Merit and Mayor’s Civilian Award of Merit: Officer Allana Laquerre and her parents, Stephen and Phyllis Laguerre. Officer Laquerre was monitoring calls from motorists stranded in whiteout conditions on Dec. 23, the day the blizzard began. She spoke to a family who was stuck in their vehicle at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Howard Street – three children and two adults. She checked on them again the next day and they were still trapped in the same place and had run out of gas. They were in danger of freezing to death. Laquerre called her parents who live nearby and they offered to take the family in. Laquerre stayed on the phone with the family as they trudged through the blasting winds and snow until they got to her parents’ house. They ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Laquerres.
Civilian Distinguished Service Award: Jaamel Carr is the custodial engineer at the Ferry-Fillmore District Station House – C District – which turned into an…
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