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Torrington honors officers with lifesaving medals and officer-of-the-year awards
Summary
At a Sept. 3 Board of Public Safety ceremony, Torrington police recognized three officers with lifesaving awards and named officers of the year for 2018–2025, citing specific incidents in which rapid first aid and field medical training were credited with saving lives.
Police Chief Bill Baldwin and department leaders presented lifesaving medals and multiple Officer of the Year awards at a Torrington Board of Public Safety ceremony on Sept. 3, 2025.
The awards recognized three recent incidents in which officers’ prompt medical actions were credited with preventing deaths. Police said Sergeant Derek Messier of the Canton Police Department applied a tourniquet after responding to a two-motorcycle crash on Winstead Road on May 25, 2025; hospital staff later told investigators the injured rider had lost about half his blood and was in critical condition until stabilized. Chief Baldwin said Messier’s “quick action of applying the tourniquet saved the victim’s life.”
Officer Richard Locks and his K-9 partner, Farrell, received a lifesaving award for locating an unconscious woman who had taken prescription medication on July 15, 2025. Torrington police said the woman would likely have died within an hour if she had not been found. Officer David Curtin received two lifesaving awards: one for a motor-vehicle collision on April 18, 2025, where he applied tourniquets and coordinated care until EMS arrived, and a second for a 2022 stabbing response in which he provided emergency trauma care and assisted during transport.
The department also presented Officer of the Year awards spanning multiple years. Honorees named during the ceremony included the posthumous 2025 outstanding officer award for Sergeant Nick Littery; 2024 Officer of the Year Matthew Balanek; 2023 Sergeant Matthew Gonska; 2022 Officer Hannah Thompson; 2021 Sergeant Dustin Baldus; 2020 Captain Brett Johnson; 2019 Sergeant Matt Faulkner (not present); and 2018 Officer Michael Gallagher. Chief Baldwin said the names will appear on a recognition plaque shared inside the department.
Deputy Chief Perron read award criteria for the lifesaving medal, noting the award recognizes “an act performed in the line of duty where disregard for personal safety and/or prompt and alert actions resulted in the saving of a life.” The chief and department leaders emphasized that awards resulted from a peer review committee that reviews nominations and incidents.
The department publicly thanked Torrington Fire Department crews and Trinity Ambulance personnel for their role in patient care at the scenes described. Chief Baldwin closed the ceremony by saying the awards underscore the department’s “integrity, honor, service, and commitment to justice.”
