Police Officers of the Month, October 2011

As police officers we take an oath to protect life and property. When you respond to your first aided case that is a fatality that oath begins to become more personal. You begin to have a new found respect for the sanctity of human life. As time goes on and your experience grows somehow it does not get any easier to see the loss of life. You put on your professional face and try to comfort the people left behind because you have a job to do . All the while your respect for life is growing deeper and deeper, while outwardly to others you may appear to have become distant and callous. As professional law enforcement officers we know that is merely a defense mechanism we develop in order to do our job. We know how precious life is and how in the blink of an eye how it can change forever.

Our honoree tonight demonstrated this respect for human life and the actions he and fellow detectives took to preserve it.

On July 17, 2011 while at his desk in the 103 Pct. squad he answered a telephone call from a frantic female who told him her daughter had called her and told her " I took a bunch of pills . I want to kill myself . Kiss my kids. I'm sorry."

The caller identified herself as Beth Walz of Honolulu, Hawaii. She told Det. Lopresti her daughter, Averie Kenery a flight attendant for Delta Airlines had made the call and was staying someplace in Queens, all she had was an intersection Hillside Ave. and Lefferts Blvd. Relatives had begun randomly dialing Queens precincts and she had reached Det. Lopresti With just an intersection Det. Lopresti jumped in an unmarked car with three other detectives and raced to that location. Upon his arrival he observed there there were only two private residences on the block the one other piece of information the mother had. He observed a young woman dressed in a flight attendants uniform entering one of the buildings in question and he asked if this was used by the Delta crews. She responded it was and the detectives began banging on doors in an effort to locate Ms. Kenery, there was no response the detectives broke down the doors and did a search of the room. Still unable to locate the aided, Det. Lopresti was informed the mother still had an open line to her daughter , but she stopped talking, as the detectives shouted her name Ms.Walz told a detective who had her on the line "I can hear them calling her name , they have to be close." Upon a second search of one room the young woman was found wedged between a wall and bed covered by a sheet, unconscious but alive. She was rushed to Jamaica Hospital where she spent sveral days in a coma but is recovering.

For his actions in saving the life of a young woman, and putting himsef at risk in doing so. He sustained a seperated shoulder and broken toe when he broke in several doors we commend Det. Charles Lopresti . His actions and those of his fellow detectives bring credit to themselves , the 103 Pct. and the New York City Police Department.