MOLINE, ILLINOIS (April 7, 2021) — Four Moline Police Officers received the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Valor Award for their on-duty actions involving the rescue of a woman from a burning residence. All four officers suffered smoke-inhalation and had to be treated at a hospital following the rescue.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of these four officers, no lives were lost in an early morning arson fire that could easily have become a tragedy,” said FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood, who presented the awards in Moline on Tuesday, April 6. “Their efforts and sacrifice embody the true meaning of the police motto, ‘to protect and serve’.”
Sergeant Derrick Cullison and officers Joshua McManus, Andrew Compton. and Cody Parmenter responded at 3:30AM on March 15 to a deliberately-set fire at a residence in the 1000 block of 15th Street in Moline. The four officers entered the burning building to rescue a female resident, but the resident became combative. The officers were eventually able to get the woman out of the building, undoubtedly saving her life. Because of the extra time they had to spend inside the blazing structure, the officers all suffered smoke-inhalation and had to be treated at the hospital.
The Fraternal Order of Police, founded in 1915, is the largest organization of sworn law-enforcement officers in the United States. With a proud tradition of officers representing officers, the FOP is the most-respected and most-recognized police organization in the country. The Illinois FOP, chartered in 1963, is the second-largest State Lodge, proudly representing more than 34,000 active-duty and retired police-officers — more than 10 percent of all FOP members nationwide. Visit www.ilfop.org for more information.
