Medal of Valor 2024 Class, awarded on Sept. 23, 2025

Kevin Drury, St. Charles Fire Department and Dennis O’Leary, St. Charles Police Department

At about 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2024, Firefighter/Paramedic Drury was in his personal vehicle traveling to work at St. Charles Fire Department Station 6 for that duty day. Drury received a phone alert that the ambulance he would be working on that day had just been dispatched for a fire call. The fire was very close to his route. When he next saw in the dispatch notes that there were possibly two victims trapped, he rerouted to the fire. As he pulled up to the address, St. Charles Police Officer O’Leary was sprinting to the mobile home. Drury and O’Leary opened the unlocked front door to heavy smoke and near-zero visibility. The door would not fully open because of hoarder conditions. Drury crouched low, crawled about four feet into the room and yelled “Fire department, call out.” A man and woman responded that they were in a back bedroom. Drury stepped back and shared the information with Officer O’Leary, who was using his flashlight to attempt to illuminate a path for Drury. Drury attempted to get farther into the house in a prone position to minimize smoke and heat exposure. This time he got six feet in before encountering an overturned couch. From his position on the floor, he attempted to push the couch out of the way, but the hoarder conditions prevented it. He retreated to the door for air, where O’Leary, with the flashlight, was also struggling to breathe. Drury repeatedly crawled in and out as he moved debris and then went out for air as conditions deteriorated – increased heat, smoke, and there was now active fire in the front room. Finally, aided by O’Leary’s light, Drury was able to find a male victim lying on the floor. He pulled him by his feet toward the front door. O’Leary and other police officers got the victim onto the front porch. Medics tended to the victim and Drury went back inside and called out to the other victim. The victim called back but was disoriented. Drury had to crawl out to the porch for air. He then briefed arriving firefighters of the situation. Meanwhile Officer O’Leary had advanced inside the burning structure. He found the other victim and began pulling her out with another St. Charles Police officer. Drury assisted in getting her out of the residence. He then assisted with the woman’s care until additional ambulances arrived. Drury was later treated at a hospital and released. Both patients have made full recoveries. Without protective equipment or breathing apparatus, Drury and Officer O’Leary struggled against heat, smoke, near-zero visibility and hoarder conditions. Other than O’Leary’s flashlight they had nothing else to rely on beyond their relentless determination to save two lives.

Luke J. Buchanan and Steven D. Thompson, Independence Police Department

On Feb. 29, 2024, Independence Police Department dispatch received a 911 call from a neighbor advising that a sheriff’s deputy had just been shot and was down in the doorway at 1111 North Elsea Smith Road in Independence. As officers responded to the scene, dispatch determined the victim was Drexel Mack, a court officer with Jackson County Circuit Court. The first officers on the scene were Officer Cody Allen, Officer Thompson and Officer Buchanan. The Independence officers quickly planned a rescue attempt. As the officers arrived at the doorway, Officers Thompson and Buchanan provided cover while Officer Allen attempted to drag Mr. Mack to safety. Shots were immediately fired from inside the residence, striking Officer Allen. Thompson and Buchanan returned fire as they sought cover. While awaiting additional assistance, Buchanan realized he had been shot in the stomach beneath his ballistic vest; Thompson realized he had been grazed in the arm. Within minutes, officers surrounded the residence, and a SWAT team made entry and engaged the gunman, with several shots being fired. A suspect was eventually taken into custody. Officer Allen and Court Officer Drexel Mack were transported to a hospital but succumbed to their wounds. Officers Thompson and Buchanan each recovered. Officers Allen, Thompson and Buchanan acted heroically that day. They willingly risked their own lives in an attempt to save the life of Mr. Mack. Officer Buchanan medically retired because of his injuries.

Ben Grote and Jason Miller, Greene County Sheriff’s Office

On June 17, 2024, members of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit responded to a house to arrest a man wanted for drug trafficking. Investigator Miller was assigned to the back of the residence as two deputies made contact with the suspect at the front door. Shortly after the suspect closed the front door, the back door opened, and Investigator Miller instructed a man and a woman to exit the residence. Sergeant Grote was arriving on the scene and assisted Miller. As the two deputies questioned the male and female witnesses about anyone else being in the residence and the presence of weapons, shots were fired in rapid succession from inside the residence. This was followed by several shots out of the front of the house and then several more rounds fired out the back. Sergeant Grote was struck by shattering glass. Miller and Grote instructed the two witnesses to take cover behind a truck. The woman cried hysterically and collapsed. Miller pulled the woman behind the truck for cover. Miller and Grote flanked the two witnesses to provide additional protection. Soon after, a gunman exited the residence and walked in the direction of Miller, Grote and the two witnesses, firing from a short-barrel AR-15 pistol. Miller and Grote returned fire, driving the gunman back. Miller was struck in the abdomen but was protected by his ballistic vest. He and Grote continued returning fire and drove the gunman back into the house. Miller and Grote then evacuated the two witnesses to a location where they were safe from the gunman. Miller was transported to a hospital for medical evaluation. Negotiators talked the gunman into surrendering and he was taken into custody. In a highly dangerous and dynamic situation, while repeatedly under fire from a heavily armed gunman, Sergeant Grote and Investigator Miller calmly and courageously responded, focused on protecting the witnesses regardless of the danger to themselves.

Arron Fredrickson, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

At about 8 a.m. on July 8, 2024, Sheriff Fredrickson received a phone call from Shelby County Commissioner Terry Mefford that an SUV was traveling at about 5 m.p.h. on U.S. 36. The sheriff asked Mefford to follow the vehicle and immediately went to investigate. Upon arriving at a one-vehicle crash scene just east of Lentner, the sheriff found Mefford, and another good Samaritan had just failed to keep the vehicle from falling into a flooded ditch. The sheriff and the other good Samaritan, Kenton Parsons descended a steep embankment and found an overturned SUV in knee-deep water. The driver’s head was submerged in the water, and she was not breathing. Sheriff Fredrickson used a crowbar to break out two windows and he and Parsons pulled the 62-year-old woman from the vehicle. The sheriff began CPR, and the driver regained a pulse and began breathing again. She has made a full recovery. From the moment Sheriff Fredrickson received a call about a slow-moving vehicle, he displayed leadership and professionalism and acted with urgency. His actions helped save a life on July 8, 2024.

Justin S. Bax, Gardner B. Pottorff, Callaway County Sheriff’s Office and Lana M. Karhoff, North Callaway County Fire Protection District

At about 3:35 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2024, Callaway County Sheriff’s Deputy Pottorff initiated a traffic stop on Interstate 70 at mile marker 139 and found that the driver was wanted for multiple felony warrants. Corporal Bax arrived to assist Deputy Pottorff. The driver refused commands to roll down his window and Deputy Pottorff broke the driver side window. After repeated commands, the driver refused to leave the vehicle and moved his hands in a threatening manner. Deputy Pottorff deployed a Taser, but after being tased, the driver reached down, pulled a pistol and shot Pottorff and Bax multiple times. Both Pottorff and Bax returned fire, striking the gunman multiple times. Additional deputies arrived at the scene and covered the gunman, who continued to wave his arms and stick his feet out a window. North Callaway Fire Protection District Chief Karhoff determined that because of the deputies’ medical needs, she and the district’s volunteers would respond to the active shooting scene instead of staging and waiting. After communicating with the sheriff’s office, they advanced to the scene and provided immediate medical care. Once Corporal Bax’s bleeding was controlled with a tourniquet, Chief Karhoff decided to transport him directly to a hospital in her vehicle, instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive at the scene. He was loaded into her vehicle, and she drove him directly to the hospital, as others from the district continued to treat Deputy Pottorf. Corporal Bax returned to full duty in January, Deputy Pottorff endured a longer recovery, which included surgeries, medical complications, and months of rehabilitation. He returned to duty in May. The gunman died at the scene. When coming under attack at close range in the middle of the night, Bax and Pottorff, despite each being shot multiple times, returned fire and ended the threat posed to each other and the community. Chief Karhoff and her fire protection district team responded to a potentially dangerous shooting scene, and she personally transported a wounded deputy to immediate hospital care. She retired from the district this year. Justin Bax has been promoted to sergeant. Gardner Pottorff has been promoted to corporal.

Tiffany Trenary and Levi Fare, Missouri Department of Corrections

On the evening of Oct. 26, 2024 at the Potosi Correctional Center, Officers Fare and Trenary were securing B-wing of Housing Until 6, when an offender refused Officer Trenary’s directive to return to his cell. Officer Trenary then instructed the offender to submit to wrist restraints. He refused and struck Officer Trenary in the face multiple times. To protect Officer Trenary and without regard for his own safety, Officer Fare stepped in to assist and was also struck by the offender, who then began stabbing Officer Trenary in the head and face with a prison made weapon. Without regard for his own safety, Officer Fare put himself between Officer Trenary and the offender and was also stabbed in the head. Despite their injuries, the officers pursued the offender as he ran away and were able to capture and restrain him until other corrections officers arrived. Officers Trenary and Fare were both transported to a hospital where they received stitches and wound care. While under violent attack from an armed offender, each of the officers acted with professionalism, courage and concern for the other. Officer Fare has left the Department of Corrections in good standing.

Tyler Griffin, Crystal City Police Department

On Dec. 8, 2024, Officer Griffin was dispatched to the neighboring town of Festus, where a gunman wearing body armor and armed with two handguns was firing one of the weapons near a fast food restaurant. He had already murdered his girlfriend in Arkansas, and her body was inside his pickup truck. While rushing to the scene, Officer Griffin received information that the gunman had fled police and crashed his truck in Crystal City. One of the first Crystal City Police officers on the scene exchanged shots with the gunman, who was forced to the ground and dropped his weapons. Once at the scene, Griffin took a close tactical position and gave verbal commands to the gunman, who had regained control of his weapons. Because the gunman posed an unmistakable deadly threat to the community, Officer Griffin shot him several times with his department-issued rifle. The Arkansas man, who had no ties to the community, survived and faces a murder charge in Arkansas. In a chaotic, dynamic and highly dangerous situation, Officer Griffin was calm and steadfast, focused on ending the threat and protecting the community.