When Sgt. Brian Kuriger came upon a man living in a small moving trailer off a rural road in western Louisville on Sept. 16, he knew the man was covered in a mixture of gasoline and kerosene because the smell filled the air.
A bonfire was going and the man was pacing, yelling about wanting to see a specific police detective. Within moments, the man was approaching Kuriger with a propane torch in hand. Kuriger used his Taser, but it had no effect. Then the man turned the torch on himself, lighting his pants and arms on fire.
Kuriger said he raced toward the man, tackled him and then began to throw dirt on him to extinguish the flames.
On Friday night, Kuriger was one of dozens of Louisville Metro Police officers honored at the department’s annual awards banquet. Kuriger received the Medal of Honor.
“It’s an honor,” Kuriger said. “But I was doing my job. I put my uniform on every day to protect the citizens of this community.”
Kuriger said he had no doubt that any officer would have done the same.
Officers were honored for a host of accomplishments. The annual banquet is the main time each year that officers get to stop for a moment and be recognized for the work they do.
Officer Armand “Buddy” VanCleave, who works in the traffic unit, was honored for his efforts last year to save a man he was assisting on a stalled vehicle call on July 4. A car came around the blind curve where they were stopped and lost control, striking the car and trapping VanCleave between the car and the guardrail.
VanCleave was able to push the motorist over the guardrail to keep him from being struck. But VanCleave suffered severe injuries to his leg and said he will have his third surgery in a couple of weeks.
The department is honoring VanCleave, an officer for 19 years, with the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart.
VanCleave also said he’s honored, “but I wish I’d never been hit by a car. I’m in pain a lot of the time.” VanCleave returned to work in February but said his injuries from the accident will likely lead him to retire later this year, something he had not planned to do for several more years.
Officer of the Year: Tony Grant
Civilian of the Year: Frank Lucchese
Explorer of the Year: John Moore
Medal of Honor:
- Lt. Greg Burns
- Sgt. Chris Boyer
- Sgt. Brian Kuriger
- Dennis Beatty
- Paul Paris
- Kevin Smith
- Armand VanCleave
- Mike Williams
Purple Heart:
- Lt. Greg Burns
- Tony Sacra
- Kevin Smith
- Armand VanCleave
Medal of Honor:
- Detective Charles Newman
- Mike Dentinger
- Rusty Holland
- Paul Humphrey
- Mike Pawul
- Adam Sears
- Shannon Shafer
- Sean Szpila
- Willie Williams
- Mike Woodard
Distinguished Lifesaving:
- Sgt. Tim Stokes
- Detective William Pearson
- Kenneth Angelini
- Matt Baker
- Paul Barber
- Stephen Barone
- David Bassler
- Dennis Beatty
- Todd Benzing
- Kevin Bevil
- Nathan Blanford
- Eric Boswell
- Todd Boyd
- Al Ceralde
- Marc Christiansen
- Chad Crick
- Larry Cushman
- Vadim Dale
- Wannie Davenport
- Mike Dentinger
- Chistopher Dudley
- Shaun Erie
- David Graham
- Todd Hale
- Joe Heitzman
- Charles Heller
- Michael Hendeson
- Chuck Herbert
- Wayne Hobbic
- Rusty Holland
- Russell Horton
- William Howard
- Ed Johnson
- Sean Jones
- Matthew Kennington
- Emily Lettie
- Hydia Lockhart
- Anthony Mabrey
- Steve McAtee
- Jackie Miller
- Kevin Mumphrey
- Jordon Murphy
- Mark Oerther
- Shannon Parks
- Troy Prechtel
- Anthony Scott
- Joshua Spaulding
- Greg Stark
- Dan Taylor
- Trinity Tillman
- Amanda Tolle
- Derrick Torrens
- Tracey Vantassell
- Leslee Wagner
- Mike Williams
- W. Allan Wolf
- Brandon Wood
- Carmine Zoeller
Exceptional Merit:
- Sgt. William Hibbs
- Sgt. Donnie Masden
- Kenneth Christian
- Chris Colburn
- Steve Farmer
- Mike King
- Jonah Kiper
- Bobby Lewis
- Nicholas Nail
- Kristopher Pedigo
- Erik Spencer
- William Wolf
- Elaine Fernandez
- Amberee Hensley
- Jennifer Shoemaker