An officer from the Wilkens Station received the Silver Star, and eight of his fellow Precinct 1 officers received commendations during a special ceremony Nov. 2 on the Catonsville campus of the Community College of Baltimore County.
Officer Keith Boone, a 12-year veteran at Wilkens, was one of 10 to receive the Baltimore County Police Department's second highest award during the event, which honored 59 Baltimore County police officers and a county firefighter.
Boone was honored for his valor, courage, intelligence and bravery during a Nov. 21, 2009 incident.
Also cited for their actions during that incident were Detectives Jacqueline Wilhelm and Todd Wiedel, and Officer Earl Owings of the Wilkens Station. Each of the three received a Departmental Commendation Award. The Departmental Commendation Award, the department's third-highest award, honors courage and devotion to duty, intelligence during unusual circumstances, initiative in solving a crime or for arresting an armed and dangerous person under certain circumstances.
The recounting of the incident last week noted that through surveillance, the group had determined a man wanted for attempted murder and armed carjacking was in a house in Baltimore.
As Boone and Cpl. Kyle Woodward, a member of the county's Criminal Investigation Division, spoke with Baltimore City police, Owings, Wilhelm and Wiedel kept watch on the house.
When the man left the house, the officers followed the vehicle and called on city police to pull the man over, police said.
When approached by city police, the man got out of the passenger side of the vehicle, fired two shots at the officers and ran down the street. The officers did not return fire because of passing traffic.
Soon after, police arrested the driver.
Boone, Woodward and city officers rushed to the scene and found the wanted man running down Wabash Avenue. As Boone drove up next to the man on the unfamiliar street, the man fired several shots at their car.
Boone slowed down, and Woodward jumped out and returned fire.
Boone said he stopped his car; and joined Woodward and a city officer in returning fire, and then chasing the man down and arresting him.
"As that was going on, you really don't have time to think," Boone said. "You pretty much just got to trust your partners, trust your training and pray."
Wilkens Officers Thomas Warehime, Richard Lanahan Jr., Bryan Lange, Anastasia Robinson and Michael Schmitz Jr. also received department commendations last week.
They were honored for their actions on April 26, 2011, to rescue a group of children on a school bus.
According to a recounting of the incident given during the ceremony, Lanahan noticed a school bus filled with children driving erratically east on Route 40.
Lanahan stopped the bus, but it began moving again a few minutes later, striking a light pole and guard rail and coming to a halt.
As the children exited the bus through the rear emergency door, Lange, Robinson and Warehime arrived at the scene. The officers went into the bus to ensure no children were left behind and worked as a team to remove the driver, who had had a medical emergency and was slipping in and out of consciousness.
After the ceremony, Capt. John Spiroff, commander of the Wilkens Station, shook hands with his officers at a reception.
"I'm very proud of the officers who got these awards," Spiroff said. "They're special officers, and I'm very proud of them."
Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz and Police Chief Jim Johnson also attended last week's ceremony.
"Thanks to this department, crime in Baltimore County is at a historic low," Kamenetz said during the ceremony. "(But) percentages and spreadsheets cannot communicate the bravery and professionalism that has made this department one of the finest in the nation."