Medal Recipient Search
Tony Carey, nominated by Kansas City Police Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
At about 9:40 a.m. on October 16, 2024, Tony Carey was at work at 72nd Street and Troost Avenue when he heard a loud crash nearby. He went to the front of the business to investigate and found a two-vehicle crash scene and Kansas City Police Officer Jon Powell lying in the roadway near his police motorcycle. Mr. Carey checked on the officer’s condition and found him to be unconscious and critically injured. Mr. Carey was not familiar with police equipment but located the radio on the downed motorcycle and began pressing buttons, which eventually activated the emergency status of the radio. Mr. Carey then made contact with the injured civilian driver of the other vehicle and shut off her SUV. He then went back to Officer Powell and remained with him until first responders arrived. Mr. Carey’s activation of the emergency button of Officer Powell’s radio alerted dispatch that the officer was in trouble. The dispatcher sent units to the area Officer Powell had just cleared. Upon arrival, officers called for EMS and began life-saving efforts. The officer was transported to a hospital where his condition stabilized. He continues to recover from his injuries. Mr. Carey’s willingness to help and his immediate response quickly got critically important medical assistance to Officer Powell and played an important role in preserving Officer Powell’s life and aiding his recovery.
Tiffany Trenary and Levi Fare, Missouri Department of Corrections
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Medal of Valor
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
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Medal of Valor
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.
John R. Henry, Cary F. Porter, Brett D. Tappendorf, Kristopher “Blake” Geren and Peter D. Hummel, Missouri State Highway Patrol
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Governor's Medal
On Jan. 24, 2024, a suspect allegedly attempted to abduct a woman in Quincy, Ill., and then fled Illinois law enforcement into Missouri. Hannibal Police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol picked up the pursuit. Patrol Field Training Officer Master Sergeant Henry and Trooper Geren began pursuing the suspect’s vehicle on U.S. Highway 36 in Shelby County, where it struck a tire deflation device deployed by Corporal Porter near Clarence, Mo. The vehicle exited at Missouri 151 and traveled down an embankment where it became disabled. As Henry and Geren approached, the suspect fired a round from a high-powered rifle, striking the driver side of the windshield. Geren, who was driving, was struck in the left shoulder by bullet fragments. Corporal Tappendorf and Trooper Hummel maneuvered their Patrol vehicles around Henry and Geren’s vehicle and tactically positioned them to provide cover from the gunman. The gunman then fired a second round from his high-powered rifle that struck Tappendorf’s vehicle. Tappendorf and Hummel exited their vehicles and returned fire with their Patrol rifles as the suspect continued firing. The gunman sustained multiple gunshot wounds and subsequently surrendered. Three rifles and a shotgun and additional ammunition were recovered inside the gunman’s vehicle. Trooper Geren was transported from the scene and has made a full recovery and returned to duty. He, Master Sergeant Henry, Corporal Tappendorf, Trooper Hummel and Corporal Porter each responded heroically to a highly dangerous situation in which a heavily armed violent criminal targeted officers using lethal force. The officers worked in tandem to communicate and protect one another, and in so doing removed a menacing criminal who threatened the community.
Justin S. Bax, Gardner B. Pottorff, Callaway County Sheriff’s Office and Lana M. Karhoff, North Callaway County Fire Protection District
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Medal of Valor
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.
Arron Fredrickson, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Medal of Valor
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.
Alan Crook and Luis Carlos Garza, nominated by Hazelwood Police Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On the evening of Sept. 28, 2024, as Hazelwood Police officers investigated an armed robbery that had just occurred, Officer Brandon Runyon located the suspect in the 7400 block of North Lindbergh Blvd. The suspect punched Runyon in the face and continued to attack the officer. The officer and suspect fell to the ground, where a backpack stolen by the suspect, opened. Cash and a handgun fell near the struggle. About 30 seconds into the struggle, motorists Alan Crook and Luis Garza recognized that Officer Runyon needed immediate assistance and stopped. Mr. Garza placed his body weight on the suspect’s legs. Mr. Crook drew his own pistol and pointed it at the attacker while the officer now struggled to handcuff the suspect. Additional Hazelwood Police officers soon arrived and were able to assist in handcuffing the suspect. With complete disregard for their own safety, Mr. Crook and Mr. Garza each made the decision to intervene in a highly dangerous situation and prevented Officer Runyon from further injury, or perhaps worse.
Shane Engelhardt, Jason Karr, Michael Schultz, Matthew Smart, Michael Bainbridge, Jesse Berendzen, Lisa Layton-Brinker and Justin Bryan, Jefferson City Fire Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Governor's Medal
At about 2:40 a.m. on Nov. 30, 2024, a gas leak led to a house explosion and fire, and residents and pets trapped in the collapsed structure. The Jefferson City Fire Department’s Squad 2, consisting of Captain Schultz, Driver/Engineer Engelhardt and Firefighter Bryan, was first to arrive to a chaotic and rapidly evolving scene – the crumbled structure, was highly unstable and burning. Because of the conditions, the department’s Special Operations and Rescue Team (SORT) was activated. Captain Smart, Driver/Engineer Michael Bainbridge, Driver/Engineer Jesse Berendzen, Driver/Engineer Lisa Layton-Brinker and Driver/Engineer Jason Karr joined with Schultz, Engelhardt and Bryan and initiated a challenging highly technical rescue operation while simultaneously working to suppress the fire. Three victims had been able to escape from the ruins themselves; the JCFD team and Jefferson City Police officers assisted a fourth victim out of the rubble, but the final victim could not be located. Eventually, the team made verbal contact with the victim. He described his location as beneath two dogs that were also trapped. Once the dogs had been extricated, the victim, who was buried in the basement, signaled his location by how well he could see a firefighter’s flashlight. The rescue operation would require the team to perform extensive cutting and complex tunneling operations to reach and then extricate the victim. Over the next three hours, the team navigated the difficulties that came with an extremely wobbly structure and unsteady ground, a sustained gas-fed fire, environmental hazards along with reassuring a trapped victim who had suffered burns and was highly hypothermic. The team persevered despite the many obstacles and was cheered when the final victim that they rescued was healthy enough to visit with them several weeks after the valiant rescue effort. Jason Karr and Shane Engelhardt have been promoted to captain.
Sean MacDonald, nominated by Missouri Department of Conservation
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On the night of Nov. 4, 2024, heavy rainfall led to flooding and swift-water conditions on Supplemental Route N Highway in Wright County. A woman was trapped in her sedan about one mile west of Highway 95. Missouri Department of Conservation Corporal Justin Emery and Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Cole Chatman responded to a location about 500 yards downstream from the victim as the fast-moving floodwater rose and conditions worsened. Mountain Grove city employee Sean MacDonald was at the scene with a large, wheeled front-end loader. Despite the challenging conditions, Mr. MacDonald did not hesitate. He had the two officers, who were wearing life vests, climb into the loader’s bucket and then navigated the vehicle through the high swift water to the trapped teenage driver. Emery and Chatman attached a life vest to a rescue throw bag and tossed it to the victim. Once she was secured in the vest, operator MacDonald positioned the bucket alongside the flooded vehicle and slowly lowered the officers to the trapped teen. Emery and Chatman were then able to safely pull the victim from her car into the bucket. MacDonald then carefully maneuvered the loader back upstream to a waiting ambulance, where the victim received medical care. On a pitch-black night with floodwater swirling all around him, Sean MacDonald was willing to risk his own safety and calmly led a daring rescue of a trapped victim.
Cody Allen, Independence Police Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Red, White and Blue Heart Award
On Feb. 29, 2024, Court Officer Mack and another court officer went to a house in Independence to serve a writ of possession because the property had gone into foreclosure due to unpaid taxes. When there was no answer at the door, they had a property maintenance contractor drill out the lock on the front door. Court Officer Mack was then fatally shot from inside the house. Mack’s colleague called 911 for help. Independence Police Officer Allen was one of the first officers on the scene, along with Officers Luke J. Buchanan and Steven D. Thompson. The officers quickly attempted a rescue of Mr. Mack. As they arrived at the doorway, Officer Allen attempted to drag Mr. Mack to safety, with Thompson and Buchanan providing cover. Shots were immediately fired from inside the residence striking Officer Allen. Thompson and Buchanan returned fire as they sought cover. Buchanan was shot in the stomach, beneath his ballistic vest; Thompson was grazed in the arm. Within minutes, officers surrounded the house, and a SWAT team made entry and engaged the gunman, with several shots being fired. The suspect was eventually taken into custody. Officer Allen and Court Officer Mack were transported to a hospital but succumbed to their wounds. Drexel Mack’s work delivering legal documents to the public was essential to the function of the courts and providing justice to the community. Officer Allen will be remembered as the hero he was, a police officer who literally ran toward danger and put protecting the life of another above his own life.