Police officers, firefighters honored for bravery in first ceremony since COVID-19 lockdown

Most people would call it heroism when a police officer doesn’t let the threat of being shot stop them from trying to protect others, or a firefighter crawls through a burning home to save a toddler.

But the men and women honored Wednesday with the city’s top awards for police and fire department bravery modestly pinned it on good training.

Still, one firefighter acknowledged that saving a child was “awesome. I’ll carry that with me forever.”

After a four-year hiatus begun during COVID-19, Mayor Brandon Johnson presented the Carter Harrison and Lambert Tree awards to six police officers and firefighters. It’s unclear why the ceremony hasn’t resumed until now, but police Supt. Larry Snelling thanked the mayor for reviving it.

Officers Evagelos Ainalakis, Ravyn Morgan and Jake Schmeisser were honored for trying to de-escalate a threat posed by a man who tried firing at them in the West Pullman neighborhood before eventually shooting the suspect.

A man had been terrorizing neighbors with a shotgun and revolver on Dec. 7, 2022, allegedly upset over a TV news report. He was accused of firing at neighbors minutes earlier, hitting one of them in the 100 block of West 126th Place.

When Morgan and Schmeisser arrived, the man allegedly left his home again and raised a revolver at them. The pair took cover as the man squeezed the trigger, but his bullets were all spent.

The officers tried to calm the man, ordering him to drop the weapon. But as the man allegedly raised the gun on an unsuspecting pedestrian, the officers opened fire, striking him in a finger.

As Morgan and Schmeisser arrested the suspect, Ainalakis got hold of his gun and coordinated medical attention for the person the man had shot earlier.

Schmeisser, a three-year department veteran, credited his training for helping him stay calm during the chaotic call.

“Our curriculum that posed real-world situations, I attribute it to all of that,” Schmeisser said after the ceremony.

Morgan said she was “blessed that everybody ... was able to go home to their families alive.”

This is Morgan’s second time being honored for bravery in her five-year career. She was honored in 2019 with a Fraternal Order of Police award for saving a young boy who had badly cut his arm.

After the ceremony, Morgan’s father, Tyril Williams, jokingly said he was “upset” about the award because it meant someone tried to shoot his daughter.

Toddler rescued from under pile of melted plastic

Firefighters Jeffrey Rich, Capt. Paul T. Burns and Lt. Michael Modjeski were honored for saving a toddler from a burning home on April 4, 2022.

When they arrived at the six-flat in the 500 block of North Central Avenue, smoke was billowing from the first floor, and the fire was spreading. Burns, a lieutenant at the time, was leading the search and found an elderly woman outside the apartment who said her grandchildren were still inside.

The firefighters crawled through the smoke-filled apartment, feeling along the walls until Modjeski found a woman on a bed and removed her.

Burns continued searching the room for the second child he was told was still inside.

“I’m down, pressing the floor and I’m just moving stuff as I go,” Burns recalled after the ceremony.

Next, he saw the foot of a 3-year-old sticking out from under a pile of melted vertical blinds near a closet, he said. He grabbed the unconscious child and rushed her out of the apartment.

The 57-year-old woman rescued from the bed died from her injuries three weeks later.

Burns said he’s not one to fawn over awards and ceremonies, but he acknowledged, “What we did was awesome. I’ll carry that with me forever.”