Joplin police officers receive additional honors
Sep. 29—The Missouri Department of Public Safety honored two fallen Joplin police officers and two others still serving the city at a ceremony Thursday in Jefferson City.
The families of fallen Joplin police officers Benjamin Cooper and Jake Reed received the department's Red, White and Blue Heart Award on their behalf, while police Capt. William Davis and Officer Rick Hirshey were recipients of the Medal of Honor.
The Joplin officers were among 18 first responders and four civilians recognized at the ceremony for heroic and lifesaving actions in 2022.
"The courage and valiant actions by these heroes show the tremendous debt we owe to first responders," Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe said at the ceremony. "They hit the streets each day never knowing the challenges they will face, but determined to bravely serve the people of Missouri, no matter the personal cost."
Cooper and Reed were among six of the honorees killed in their line of duty. Cooper, 46, and Reed, 27, were fatally shot March 8, 2022, by Anthony Felix, a 40-year-old man they had stopped in the parking lot of the Northpark Crossing shopping complex following a disturbance in a store.
Officer Jake Reed
Jake Reed
Courtesy — Joplin Police Department
Felix fled the scene in Cooper's patrol car, firing rounds back at other officers in pursuit of him. He crashed the patrol vehicle, got out and was in the process of trying to steal a minivan when Hirshey pulled up in his patrol car, blocking his way.
Felix shot Hirshey in the face just moments before Davis arrived in another vehicle and exchanged gunfire with the suspect, killing him and putting an end to his rampage.
"I still picture (Felix) standing in the V of that (van) door and shooting at Rick's patrol car when I started to return fire," Davis recalled Friday while back on the job in Joplin.
Officer Rick Hirshey
Rick Hirshey
Courtesy — Joplin Police Department
Davis shot at the suspect out the driver's side window while still seated in his car. He did not realize that Felix had fired rounds at him, as well as at Hirshey, until he was interviewed post-incident by an investigator with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and was shown video of the shootout.
Somehow the rounds fired at him by the suspect, who had shown remarkable proficiency with a firearm up to that point, missed both Davis and his patrol car, a piece of good fortune that he said he can only attribute "to the grace of God."
"I'm very appreciative, very honored," Davis said of the DPS medal. "But, for me, it was just doing the job I was trained to do."
He said he feels confident it's what any other officer in the Joplin Police Department would have done.
Hirshey was similarly deflective of any glorification of the sacrifice he made that day. He said what he remembers most about the tragic day was how all other officers in the department responded. He said everyone rushed to address the threat that Felix posed and the great harm he had caused.
Will Davis
William Davis
"To me, that gives me the greatest pride in this department," Hirshey said.
He spent eight days in the hospital, much of it in critical condition, and was left with the round lodged in his neck and some permanent nerve damage. Doctors are still working to rehabilitate his jaw, with the possibility that additional surgery may be required, he said.
He said he had trained Cooper and been a friend of his for 20 years and has a son himself about Reed's age.
"I'm just honored I was able to do my part in stopping the guy who killed Ben and Jake," Hirshey said of Thursday's honor.
The four Joplin officers have received numerous awards in the year and a half since the incident.
Lawrence County sheriff's Deputy W. Shane Blankenship and Bonne Terre police Officer Lane Burns also were honored at Thursday's ceremony.
Burns, a former resident of Carthage, was shot and killed while responding to a reported disturbance on March 17, 2022, at a Bonne Terre motel. His family was given a Red, White and Blue Heart award.
Blankenship received a Medal of Valor for his role in assisting a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper at the scene of two accidents Sept. 10, 2022, on Interstate 44 in Lawrence County. The deputy and state trooper managed to save the life of a truck driver trapped inside a burning vehicle.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
