Alliance police: Five officers to get TOP COPS award for 2023 heroic actions

Benjamin Duer, Canton Repository

ALLIANCE ‒ Five officers will receive a national prize for saving a woman's life on Sept. 3, 2023.

The officers are Sgt. Lee Rose, Detective Robert Toussant and Patrolmen Chad Caughey, Stephen Minich and Shane Tallman.

They will receive the 2024 TOP COPS award from the National Association of Police Organizations at Sunday's 31st annual TOP COPS dinner in Washington, D.C. The event is in conjunction with National Police Week. The Alliance honorees are the only Ohio officers to be recognized.

The men were on duty about 1:39 p.m. Sept. 3 when a neighbor called 911 to report that George "Joe" Appleby was holding a knife to the neck of his live-in girlfriend. Appleby had a long history of violence, police said, and officers responded quickly.

In this screenshot of body camera footage from the Alliance Police Department, officer Robert Toussant stood ready in the hallway of an apartment on South Linden Avenue on Sept. 3, 2023. Toussant later shot and killed George "Joe" Appleby, who was holding a knife against a woman inside the apartment.
In this screenshot of body camera footage from the Alliance Police Department, officer Robert Toussant stood ready in the hallway of an apartment on South Linden Avenue on Sept. 3, 2023. Toussant later shot and killed George "Joe" Appleby, who was holding a knife against a woman inside the apartment.

The officers found Appleby with the woman in an upstairs apartment, the knife still at her neck.

After multiple warnings, the officers forcibly entered and shot Appleby, killing the 59-year-old man. The officers were put on a paid leave during the initial investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. But all of the men have since returned to duty.

Tallman left the department in March, joining the Hartville Police Department.

After Monday night's City Council meeting, Police Chief Akenra X said BCI recently completed its probe of the incident and sent a report to the Stark County Prosecutor's Office for review.

Meanwhile, X said the awards are good for his department.

"It goes to show the job these men do, day in and day out, putting the public first beyond their personal concerns," X said, "and the sacrifice that they went through during the incident and, even more so, after the incident, the mental wear and tear."

He said the five officers are all in the better places now.

"For me, personally, it's a situation you never want to see an officer in, ever. No one ever needs to lose their life but in this circumstance," Law Director Caity Weyer said, "they did their job, protected our citizens and saved a life. I know it has been emotional for a lot of them and deal with the process."

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @bduerREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance police shot and killed a man to save a life; five officers awarded

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