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Savnik tracked down Esteban De Jesus Jr., who was shot and killed by U.S. Marshals in Jersey City this past summer, NJSP Col. Patrick J. Callahan said in presenting the sergeant with the agency’s prestigious 2023 "Trooper of the Year" Award.
The highest honor bestowed by the NJSP to its members, the "Trooper of the Year" award is a gold-framed red ribbon that recipients wear on their Class A uniforms.
Savnick was a natural choice, Callahan said.
As part of the NJSP Fugitive Unit, he headed 16 apprehension operations that produced the arrests of 119 violent re-offenders and other fugitives over a period of only a year, the colonel said.
The fugitives collectively were involved in more than 50 shootings – either as targets or suspects – along with 107 prior gun arrests out of 723, and more than 200 prior felony convictions, he said.
Savnik particularly “demonstrated extraordinary courage and expertise” in the De Jesus case through his “rapid response, effective coordination with law enforcement personnel and decisive actions” Callahan said.
This “prevented further loss of life, averting imminent danger to the public,” he said.
Orlando police responding to 911 calls on July 7 found the victim dead on the grass outside an apartment complex. She’d been shot and also stabbed with a machete.
Her husband had also been shot but survived the attack.
De Jesus, whose father was the couple’s neighbor, fled the scene – and the state. He quickly made it 1,000 miles to New Jersey and hadn’t been here all that long when Savnik tracked him to a location in Jersey City.
Savnik and fellow members of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force encountered De Jesus on Jefferson Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. July 8, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
De Jesus was shot and then taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about a half hour later, the attorney general said.
Savnik, who joined the NJ State Police in 2010, is also an active crisis negotiator who participated in the successful end of a 6½-hour standoff with a suicidal man who held an 8-inch kitchen knife to his throat at NJ TRANSIT's Market Street garage in Paterson earlier this year.
The sergeant was dispatched along with a Passaic County Sheriff's SWAT team, among other tactical officers, soon after the standoff began at Park Avenue and East 19th Street shortly before 5:30 p.m. April 8.
The sergeant’s role included “assisting in negotiations with the subject as well as coordinating various law enforcement, medical, and civilian assets,” Callahan said.
SEE: Distraught Man Holds Officers At Bay For Hours In First Paterson Standoff Since State Takeover
Savnik has managed the Strategic Apprehension Fugitive Enforcement (NJ SAFE) operations while handling his regular caseloads with the NJSP fugitive unit, the crisis negotiation team and the Marshals task force, the colonel said.
“His commitment during these investigations has undoubtedly made the State of New Jersey safer,” Callahan said.
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