City honors public safety officers for stellar work in 2022

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Grosse Pointe City Public Safety Director John Alcorn recognized some of the outstanding work by members of his department while sharing the 2022 public safety awards with the Grosse Pointe City Council during a Feb. 27 council meeting.

Officer Austin Giarmo was the recipient — for the second year in a row — of the department’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, award for the most drunken driving arrests last year.

“He’s out there just being proactive,” Alcorn said of Giarmo. “Some of these people are just dangerous. He’s out there making a difference.”

Lt. Thomas Martindale, Sgt. Justin Strohmeyer and officer Jacob Carpenter responded to a call last year from Corewell Health’s Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe, about a missing baby and recovered the 4-month-old infant, wearing a dirty diaper, from what Alcorn said was a “drug den” in Detroit. For rescuing the little one and reuniting the baby with its father and grandparents, Alcorn gave the officers a unit citation.

Sgt. Chris Saunders and officers Andrew Prueter and Steven Mukavec were given a lifesaving award for successfully employing Narcan — which is used for drug overdoses — as well as CPR and the automated external defibrillator to revive a person during a run in The Village last year.

For extinguishing “what could have been a colossal fire quickly and efficiently” on Cranford Lane, Alcorn gave a unit citation to Martindale, Prueter, Carpenter, officer Lucas Rucinski and Detective Michael Narduzzi.

Strohmeyer and Carpenter were each awarded a citation for their work arresting two suspects who Alcorn said were illegally carrying concealed weapons and tried to flee from and elude police. Alcorn said the arrest of these suspects also resulted in the recovery of two rifles and two handguns.

For tracking down a suspect wanted for multiple larcenies from vehicles, Detective Sgt. Joe Adams received a commendation. Using a stolen pair of AirPods, Alcorn said Adams arrested the suspect after a pursuit and “closed multiple cases” with the arrest.

“Everybody in that department is first-rate,” Mayor Sheila Tomkowiak said.