'We're here to protect': First responders in Middlesex County honored with service awards

In the early morning hours of Dec. 5, 2022, four Edison police officers took swift action to pull a teen to safety on the Morris Goodkind Bridge after the youth squatted on the edge as if preparing to jump.

Their actions came after about 10 minutes of calmly talking to the teen who was armed with a knife that was later thrown off the bridge with an officer's encouragement.

And even after being pulled to safety, the teen continued to struggle to get free of the officers’ grasp.

In recognition of their ability to keep their composure in a highly stressful situation and taking action while placing themselves in danger to prevent a person from taking their own life, Edison Patrolmen David Fegler, Zachary Dlabik, Scott Benedickson and Matthew Spielman will be honored with Valor Awards May 23 by the 200 Club of Middlesex County.

"It feels good. It's obviously a great honor but that's not why we did it. I don't think any one of us thought we'd be getting interviewed by the newspaper. We were just happy to get some high fives in the muster room the next day," said Dlabik, a five-year veteran of the Edison Police Department.

"It's kind of what we're supposed to do, look out for people," Benedickson, a six-year police veteran, added.

"It's humbling for us to be in the situation we are now, but at the same time we showed up for our next tour at work just like it was any other day. If we were faced with the same situation, we would have done the same thing that we did that night," said Fegler, who has served with the department for two years.

Other honorees

Edison Patrolmen Daniel Bradley and Joseph Elqumos are receiving Valor Awards for their actions in dealing with an irate man armed with an ax who chased after them at a Judson Street apartment complex on April 12, 2022.

Meritorious Service Awards are being presented to New Jersey State Police Detective Sgt. Michael Nelson, Detective Matthew Schaible, Detective II Michael Silvestre and Trooper Matthew Lilley for their work apprehending a man hiding at a Somerset apartment who was wanted in connection with pointing a handgun at a motorist on the New Jersey Turnpike in Monroe, shooting a woman in New York City and shooting a man in Pennsylvania.

New Jersey State Police Detective Sgt. First Class Miguel Guarda, Detective Sgt. Shawn Bracht, Detectives Robert Reese, Zachary Hopf and Mario Fernandez and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Jonathan Berman are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their work tracking down the Texas driver that fatally struck an Elizabeth man walking on the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge on May 22, 2022.

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Woodbridge Detectives Eric Manresa and Perry Penna, both crisis negotiators, are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their work in getting an emotionally disturbed, suicidal man armed with a handgun and shotgun who had barricaded himself inside his Fords home on Dec. 26, 2022, to peacefully surrender.

Plainsboro Detective Patrick Miller, South Brunswick Detective Domenick DeLucia and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Lt. Grace Brown, DNA Analyst Frank Basile and Sgt. Christopher Peninsi are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their work in identifying and apprehending a Raritan Borough man sought in connection with sexual assaults of women in parks in Somerset County and a park on the Plainsboro and South Brunswick border.

Woodbridge Police Public Safety Telecommunicators Lisa Medina, Michael Sandor, Tyler Lordi, Brianna Alicea and Amy Maskarinetz-Ng are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their calm and professional work when a double-decker bus collided with a pickup truck on the New Jersey Turnpike in Woodbridge on Aug. 9, 2022, and they coordinated the emergency response for one person who died, and others who were critically injured, entrapped and required a tourniquet.

Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tzvi Dolinger, Assistant Prosecutor Lynne Seborowski, Lt. David Abromaitis, Sgt. Paul Kelley, Detectives Daniel Lojek and Benjamin Klein and Middlesex County Adults Corrections Sgt. Robert Bender are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for arranging a wiretap of defendant Kenneth Saal, who was looking to pay another inmate soon to be released $15,000 to perform a copycat murder of the one Saal was set to go on trial for last year. Just days later Saal pleaded guilty and was sentenced this year to 55 years in state prison.

Dunellen Detectives Kevin Schroeck and Jonathan DeAngelo and Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Detective Haley Hlavka are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their work in apprehending a convicted Megan's Law sex offender who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting, kidnapping and impregnating a juvenile.

Edison Firefighters Patrick Doherty, Christopher Taylor, William Pellegrino, Gary Latham and Capt. Thomas Aszman are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their quick response to a March 1, 2023, motor vehicle crash at Oak Tree and Plainfield Roads near Edison Fire Station 5 involving a car and motorcycle in which the motorcyclist suffered a serious leg injury.

Sayreville Detectives Jeffrey Taylor, Jeremy Berry and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit Detective Lauren Leyva are receiving a Meritorious Service Award for their work apprehending the suspect who sexually assaulted a 68-year-old woman in her home on Oct. 31, 2022, in less than 24 hours while he was in possession of the victim's cellphone.

Perth Amboy Officers Joel Puntiel and Jose Almonte are receiving Meritorious Service Awards for their work in removing an emotionally disturbed person, who was using a knife to cut himself, from an underground crawl space in the early morning hours of Nov. 24, 2022.

The Friends of South Amboy founders Thomas Reilly and David Kales and members Edward O'Connor, Mark Herdman, Michelle Kuhn, Amy Dundee, Kathy Housman, Maureen Strzykalski and Janet Kern are receiving the Community Service Award for their efforts organizing a charity basketball tournament that benefits people in need in their community.

The Edison bridge rescue

A passerby alerted police around 4 a.m. Dec. 2, 2022, of a possible jumper on the Morris Goodkind Bridge connecting Edison and New Brunswick along Route 1.

Patrolman Fegler was first on the scene and learned from the passerby that the person, who police later learned was a teen, was in possession of a knife.

Fegler approached the teen and tried to communicate by introducing himself and offering to contact anyone the youth wanted to speak with.

"A good portion was just trying to convince them to come on the other side of the railing. I also was negotiating at the same time for them to drop their knife and just to come over and speak, and if they didn't want to speak just to release the knife and come over and have a conversation or at least get them to someone they are willing to talk to," Fegler said.

Dlabik said Fegler was using a very calm voice and trying to find a common ground with the teen, and as Fegler was speaking face to face with the teen more police officers, including Spielman and Benedickson, arrived at the scene.

Dlabik said he made a semi-circle around so he could get within reaching distance of the person, and Fegler got the teen to throw the knife off the bridge before the youth released from the bridge a bit and squatted as if to jump. Dlabik then grabbed the left arm and put his hand around the teen's shoulder to pull them back, while Fegler and Spielman both grabbed from behind and pulled the teen who was trying to get released from the officers’ grasp.

Spielman said the teen took an arm out of one sleeve of the puffy winter coat the officer was holding onto. Bendickson was also able to grab a hold from behind and together the four officers were able to lift the teen up over the bridge railing to safety.

Benedickson said everyone was needed because the teen was struggling so much.

Fegler said the officers have worked together over a year, so they knew what to do without communicating with one another and then rendered aid before an ambulance took the teen to a hospital for treatment.

Dlabik said he'd like to think if you take the job of a police officer and you're needed to a save a life, "you have to throw caution and sense to the wayside to help somebody out."

"At the end of the day we're here to protect our community, protect the safety of others, whether that's putting ourselves at risk, we're going to do what's necessary to get someone the treatment that they need to better themselves in the future," Fegler added.

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Middlesex County NJ police, fire, EMS honored with service awards