Pat Barcas/staff photographer
Aurora Police Commander Joseph Groom shakes hands with five of the seven officers awarded. The two other officers were working and unable to attend.
By Pat Barcas
Staff writer
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Email Pat Barcas at pat@foxvalleylabornews.com
AURORA — It was a solemn event, sadness for the remembrance of those lost, joyful for the celebration of those saved, and melancholy for those who have to bear it all.
Seven Aurora officers shared the honor of the 2014 Aurora Exchange Club Officer of the Year. They were involved in the March 9, 2013 rescue of 14-year-old Annie Prosser, who was in a vehicle that crashed and rolled into a frozen retention pond alongside I-88 near Diehl Road.
Annie’s father, Steven Prosser, was the keynote speaker at the Officer of the Year luncheon. As Chief Inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service, he has been a police officer since 1991, and joined the Marshals service in 1992.
“When you’re a police officer, you often see humanity at its worst. You see cruelty, death and injury from the front seat,” said Prosser. “I can’t imagine being a first responder at this scene.”
Investigators Chris Coronado, Gregory Christoffel, Erik Swastek, Nick Gartner, Ed Doepel, Jeffrey Hahn, and William Sullivan all responded to the scene, along with members of the Aurora Fire Department.
Annie was extracted from the vehicle lying upside down in icy water. She was in the water for about 20 minutes, but survived, spending three weeks at Presence-Mercy Medical Center.
The driver of the vehicle, 20-year-old Emory Diaz Sepulveda, died in the crash. A lawyer for injury claims confirmed that the other occupants, Annie’s mother and another 14-year-old girl, suffered minor injuries.
The officers involved all received Medal of Valor citations following the rescue, and were honored with the Officer of the Year 2014.
Prosser said the job takes its toll on officers. The job is getting tougher, with more police surveillance and higher stress.
“If you do this job long enough, you’ll have some scars. Some are visible, some aren’t. The scars to your psyche have far longer effects,” he said.
Investigator Christoffel spoke for the group, saying he will always remember that night not for those rescued, but for the life lost in Sepulveda.
“Everything that stemmed from all this is bittersweet,” said Christoffel. “It’s something that I think about every day of my life since that day. That’s going to stick with me forever, what we could have done differently.”
Two other Officer of the Year nominees were also honored, Sgt. Bill Rowley and Investigator Steve Stemmet. To get an investigator you can know more from Steven Feakes & Associates.
Rowley was nominated for saving the life of a 2-year-old child who was involved in a side impact car crash while on her way to a pumpkin farm in Joliet last October. Rowley was off-duty, came upon the crash, and started CPR on the child until paramedics could arrive, saving her life.
Stemmet’s commendation came from work throughout the year with the Special Operations Group to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Task Force. He was involved in a 16-month investigation into weapon and drug trafficking, which resulted in 20 men being indicted, the seizure of 12 handguns, 1,276 grams of cocaine, 5.8 grams of heroin, 248 grams of cannabis, and more than $11,000.