Hunterdon County cops, state police to be honored for heroic acts

Raritan Township Police Sgt. Aaron Roth was thinking outside the box last year when he had Officer Michael Podlaski position his patrol SUV up to the porch of a burning two-family home where a husband and wife had climbed onto the roof.

Roth then climbed up onto the SUV's roof where he was able to assist the couple down from the roof onto the SUV and then to the ground, without being injured.

A few months earlier, Raritan Township Officer Nicholas Villa trusted his instincts to continue searching for residents of a burning home after being told no one else was inside.

Risking his own safety, Villa entered the smoke-filled home and conducted a room-by-room search and was able to safely escort the homeowner and his wife and son out, while Officer Ryan Barry assisted in establishing a safe perimeter outside the home and prevented the residents from re-entering the home to rescue their belongings.

On May 8 the four officers will be presented with plaques recognizing their life-saving actions by the 200 Club of Hunterdon County at the organization's 2024 Valor & Merit Awards Banquet at Razberry's, 834 Route 12 in Frenchtown. The nonprofit organization provides financial assistance to the families of fallen first responders, as well as scholarships and valor recognition to law enforcement, fire and emergency service personnel and their families.

Robert W. Patterson, former acting administrator with the Drug Enforcement Administration, will be the guest speaker.

Also being honored is the New Jersey State Police Perryville Barracks for its work in identifying a 25-year-old New York man who was driving a pickup truck around 3 p.m. Dec. 15, 2023 on Interstate 78 when he allegedly fired a 9mm handgun at a tractor-trailer, striking the engine compartment and fleeing following a road-rage incident. The barracks will receive a distinguished service plaque.

The Newark, Clinton Township, Readington, and Tewksbury police departments along with the New Jersey State Police Perryville and Somerville barracks will receive individual unit citations for their work on Feb. 3, 2024 in apprehending three adults and four juveniles allegedly involved in two Newark armed robberies within minutes of each other and a police pursuit through several municipalities.

Readington Police Officers Trevor Anderson and Connor Strohm are receiving plaques for life-saving actions related to a Dec. 31, 2023 suicide attempt in which Anderson was able to untie a man, lower him to the ground and administer chest compressions before the man started to regain consciousness while Strohm provided oxygen before he was flown to the hospital.

Raritan Township fire rescues

Around 10:43 p.m. Sept. 27, 2023, Roth and Podlaski were sent to a report of a fire at a home at 127 River Road.

Roth said he pulled up behind Podlaski and as they got up to the home, they saw the stairwell from the top to the bottom floor was fully engulfed, and they saw two people standing on the roof overhanging the front porch to escape the flames.

"They came out of the window and were standing on the roof because they couldn't get down the stairs," Roth said, adding the front door led to a bottom unit and a top unit where the residents couldn't get down the stairs.

"It was pretty obvious the second floor was completely engulfed, and I remember walking up to the front door and opening the front door and we saw the staircase was completely impassable," Podlaski said.

Roth grabbed a fire extinguisher in an attempt to put the fire out in the stairwell, but it didn't knock down the flames.

"I quickly assessed the situation and I saw the height of the porch and the height of the roof was the perfect height, and if we backed one of our SUV patrol cars up to the porch I could hop from the porch onto the roof of the SUV and be able to reach the roof that the individuals were on," Roth said.

Working with Podlaski, the SUV was moved over so Roth was able to hop onto the roof of the SUV and reach the porch roof and start pulling the people down onto the roof of the patrol vehicle and then pass them down to Podlaski who got them away from the house.

Roth said the husband and wife were checked for smoke inhalation but did not need to be taken to the hospital.

Villa, a three-and-a-half-year veteran of the Raritan Township Police Department, recalls it was around 6:20 a.m., at the end of the night shift on May 21, 2023, when he responded to a fire at a large home on Whitetail Way. He said the single-family home has several rooms that the homeowner rents.

"I remember getting on scene and seeing the garage fully engulfed in flames. There were a couple of tenants or residents that were outside of the house, they were saying no one else was in the house but being that we've been there previously for various reasons I knew that there are three different people that are typically there and were unaccounted for, so something was telling me those three residents they have to still be in the house," Villa said.

Villa said he and Barry tried to get into the house and he was eventually able to gain access and saw some residents running around. He guided one person at the top of the stairs down to Barry who was near the front door and located another resident who was still asleep and escorted them out. He continued to search for other family members and even kicked open a locked door to make sure no one else was inside.

"At that point the smoke was really coming in, so it was time for me to get out of the house," Villa said.

He said Barry helped by keeping the homeowner from reentering the house several times.

"I'm definitely happy there was two of us there otherwise I probably would have been chasing the homeowner around the house the whole time," Villa said.

Barry could not be reached for comment.

This is the first time Roth, Podlaski and Villa are being honored by the 200 Club of Hunterdon County.

"It's exciting and very appreciated that we're getting recognized," Roth said. "It's very rare where you have the opportunity to actually feel like you are making a difference and when the opportunity arises and it all works out to get recognized at the end of it, it's nice."

"It feels nice to be recognized," Podlaski said, adding this is what officers do every day whether they get recognized or not."

"I really appreciate the recognition," Villa said. "It's really nice for the town's people to see some of the highlight moments of our department. We handle all sorts of calls. We don't do this job expecting acknowledgement but to be recognized boosts morale and continues to motivate me."

Email: srussell@gannettnj.com

Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Hunterdon County cops, NJ state police to be honored for heroic acts