Medal Recipient Search
Logan Benjamin, Vandalia Police Department
2017 Class
Awarded on: 11/13/2018
Medal of Valor
On June 19, 2017, Corporal Benjamin responded to a residence to check on the welfare of a man who had been texting an ex-girlfriend that he was considering suicide. When he knocked on the front door, Corporal Benjamin heard a loud thud and gasping coming from inside. Corporal Benjamin immediately made entry and found a man hanging from a support beam from a belt that was around his neck. Corporal Benjamin grabbed the man around the legs and waist and lifted him to prevent certain strangulation. But the man repeatedly hit Benjamin in the head. Struggling to prop the man up, Benjamin’s portable radio microphone was knocked off, preventing him from calling for assistance. Despite the man continuing to fight violently, Benjamin managed to call for assistance and used his tactical knife to cut the belt the man was hanging from. As both men fell to the ground, the suicidal man went for Benjamin’s knife. Benjamin drew his service pistol and commanded the man to stop trying to hurt himself and Benjamin. The suicidal man complied and was transported to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. This man remains alive and well to this day because of Corporal Benjamin’s quick thinking and unwavering determination.
Michelle L. Vogel, Missouri Department of Corrections
2017 Class
Awarded on: 11/13/2018
Medal of Valor
On the night of Aug. 5, 2017, Corrections Officer Vogel was off duty when a window air conditioner caught fire in an apartment in Vogel’s apartment complex. Officer Vogel rushed into the burning building. The fire had spread throughout most of the first floor of the apartment. Inside, through thick smoke, and intense heat and flames, Officer Vogel searched to find anyone who might be trapped. As a result of her search, she found a four-year-old girl, who she quickly got out of the building to safety. Officer Vogel also made sure everyone else was out of the burning building. Outside, the girl’s mother, who was pregnant, was having trouble breathing. Officer Vogel attended to the mother until EMS arrived on the scene. Officer Vogel later took children’s clothing to the family to assist them in the aftermath of the fire. While off duty, Officer Vogel acted without hesitation and reached a young child trapped in a burning residence long before firefighters could have reached the trapped child.
Frank Mininni, Normandy Police Department, Chief of Police
2017 Class
Awarded on: 11/13/2018
Director's Leadership Medal
Colonel Mininni became Normandy Police chief in 2009, after serving 22 years with the department and steadily rising through the ranks. His two decades of experience made him aware of the gulf that existed between law enforcement and many residents in the north St. Louis County community. Determined to get his officers out of their police “bubble,” a month after becoming chief, Mininni introduced the Normandy Area Policing Initiative. It is a community engagement program designed to create real relationships between police and residents. The program implanted officers from each of the department’s divisions into specific areas of patrol. As people interacted with police, citizen satisfaction rose in resident surveys conducted by the department. To expand contacts with youth, Colonel Mininni implemented a lunch program that encouraged officers to eat lunch at local schools and engage with students. In 2015, Normandy Police and a partner nonprofit were awarded an $800,000 federal grant to put school resource officers back into the Normandy Schools Collaborative. Through these and other community engagement efforts, Colonel Mininni has worked to break down barriers and develop greater trust between citizens and law enforcement, and increase public safety in his community.
Chief of Department David Hall (Retired), Springfield Fire Department
2017 Class
Awarded on: 11/13/2018
Hall of Fame Award
For 34 years, David Hall served the citizens of Missouri as a firefighter, fire chief, fire service educator and homeland security leader. Beginning his career as a volunteer firefighter with the Mountain Grove Volunteer Fire Department in 1983, Hall moved to the Springfield Fire Department in 1989, where he would be elevated to chief of the department in 2009, and retire in 2017. As Springfield chief, Hall was known not only for advancing the department’s capabilities but for his skill as a manager. Hall’s impact was also regional and statewide, through his leadership efforts improving programs and the fire training curriculum provided by the University of Missouri Fire Rescue Training Institute (MUFRTI). Hall served as an adjunct instructor and in leadership roles for the MUFRTI fire school and co-developed the Fire Officer I and II curricula. Hall served since the inception of Missouri’s state homeland security program and had leadership roles in the Region D Regional Homeland Security Oversight Committee, which plays a key role in Missouri’s regional approach to homeland security investment decisions. Hall now continues to lead as Missouri State University’s emergency manager. His career has served as a model of improving public safety through education, advancing training and professionalism, and commitment to public safety colleagues and the public.
Jaime Solis, Richland Police Department
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Public Safety Medal of Merit
On March 24, 2016, Major Solis and members of the Tri-County Fire Protection District responded to a residence with a suicidal person. A distraught man was shaking uncontrollably as he held a pistol under his chin. Major Solis is a trained negotiator, but the man would not respond. Solis continued to engage with calm dialogue from his position at a doorway. Eventually, the gunman requested two firefighters exit the area, which they did, leaving only Solis and the gunman. Still unable to engage him, Solis went against his training and entered the gunman’s room. The major’s plan was to forcibly disarm him if negotiations failed. After 90 minutes, the gunman began to discuss his issues. Relying on his training, Major Solis continued to engage the gunman and eventually got him to surrender his weapon, which had a round in the chamber. At great risk to himself, Major Solis inserted himself into a dangerous position with a distraught gunman, and successfully resolved the situation.
David Lyman, Building Rehabilitation Contractor, nominated by Kansas City Police Department
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On May 25, 2016, Mr. Lyman, a building contractor, was in his truck when he noticed a large group of people in the street. Mr. Lyman stopped to investigate. A female animal control officer was being attacked by a dog owner. Seeing that none of the bystanders were doing anything to stop the assault, Mr. Lyman wrapped his arms around the assailant and pulled him off the animal control officer. The assailant then pulled a metal rod and attempted to attack Mr. Lyman.
Jason Glendenning and Tyler Zimmerman, Missouri State Highway Patrol
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Medal of Valor
On July 16, 2016, following heavy rain, Sgt. Glendenning and Trooper Zimmerman were deployed on a jet boat in the Niangua River in Dallas County to search for potential flooding victims. There were swift-water conditions with lots of debris in the river. They found a raft with four occupants pinned against a large downed tree. The raft was taking on water. The officers, using their extensive swift-water rescue training, quickly maneuvered the boat and rescued a woman who had fallen out. Next, they maneuvered their craft to rescue a second woman who had been thrown from the raft and was tangled in the tree and could not keep her head above water. After getting all four boaters to safety, Sergeant Glendenning and Trooper Zimmerman returned to the downed tree to cut down large branches that were a continuing danger. While working on the tree, another raft with five occupants was swept up into the tree. One occupant was immediately ejected and the raft was sinking. Working as a team, the officers rescued all of them, and then saved a kayaker and a young girl on an inner tube who had been ejected and entangled in the tree and ropes. Acting swiftly and skillfully as a team, Glendenning and Zimmerman bravely saved the lives of several people in highly treacherous flooding conditions.
Adam Brannin, Jason Francis and Rusty Rives, Joplin Police Department
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Medal of Valor
Early on Aug. 13, 2016, Joplin Police Captain Rives and Officers Brannin and Francis responded to a call for a gunman firing multiple shots inside a residence. Before reaching the scene, the officers encountered the gunman firing numerous shots from an AR-15 into a church van at a traffic intersection. Francis stopped and provided assistance as Brannin and Rives pursued the gunman in a fleeing vehicle, who soon fired more shots into another vehicle. Next the gunman drove back toward the church van shooting location. Francis moved a victim with multiple gun-shot wounds out of the line of fire and prepared to provide lethal cover. Brannin and Rives continued in pursuit. The gunman eventually abandoned the vehicle while it was still moving and Brannin and Rives quickly captured him. In all, three victims at two scenes were struck by gunfire, with two of them sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. Three other victims sustained fragmentation injuries. When a gunman brought terror to the streets of Joplin, these three officers responded heroically and ended the threat of further violence. (Rives is now chief of the Lamar Police Department.)
Derek Chism, Brian Hollensteiner, Audrain County Sheriff’s Office and Austin Kings, Missouri State H
2016 Class
Awarded on: 11/28/2017
Public Safety Medal of Merit
On Oct. 1, 2016, Sgt. Hollensteiner, Corporal Chism and Trooper Austin Kings responded to an apartment complex in Farber, Mo. During a canvass of the complex, a resident said the problem could be in the apartment next door. Chism remained to get more information. Two women were inside the apartment in question, and sensing trouble, Hollensteiner and Kings asked to enter the apartment. Once inside, they were confronted by a man with a shotgun. The officers ordered him to drop the gun, but the gunman fired. Hollensteiner and Kings returned fire, striking the gunman. Chism radioed for assistance and all three officers provided first aid until EMS arrived. The gunman, who was a convicted murderer who had recently been released from prison, recovered and will stand trial.
Eli Dorsey and Brandon Sherman, Gladstone Department of Public Safety
2016 Class
Awarded on: 10/28/2017
Medal of Valor
On the night of Nov. 20, 2016, Corporal Dorsey stopped a speeding vehicle with two occupants on U.S. Highway 69. Detecting the odor of marijuana, he called for backup and Sgt. Sherman responded. The vehicle’s passenger then fled on foot. Sherman quickly reached the fleeing suspect, who then pulled a handgun from his waistband. Sherman wrestled for control of the gun and was shot in the hand. As the suspect prepared to fire again, Dorsey fired his service weapon, striking the gunman, who succumbed to his injuries. Sherman, though wounded, secured the driver of the vehicle without further incident. During a traffic stop on a dark highway, Sherman and Dorsey – in the face of grave danger – disarmed a gunman. When fired upon the officers ended the threat to the community.