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Police Officer Anthony Gallo had stopped two upstate New York men in a car last year when the driver ran off.
Gallo bolted after him while Officer Maciej Mlynaryk dealt with a front-seat passenger -- who got into the driver’s seat and hit the gas.
Hanging onto the driver’s-side door, Mlynaryk turned off the ignition. But the car kept moving and the man behind the wheel kept trying to pull out a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol.
Gallo chased down the driver, who police said was carrying more than half a pound of cocaine.
Mlynaryk, meanwhile, was in a violent struggle with the gunman, who kept trying to pull the weapon from his pocket in the slowly moving car.
Assisted by Sgt. Kenneth Londahl-Smidt, the officer eventually subdued the suspect and got him into custody without having to resort to deadly force.
Mlynaryk sustained a knee injury that kept him out of work for awhile. But he’s returned and is on the street protecting citizens again.
SEE: Englewood Officer Hangs On To Car Door As Gunman Speeds Off
The officers were honored at a City Hall ceremony that also included a trio of law enforcement colleagues, some of Englewood’s bravest and a pair of DPW workers.
Firefighters Corey Parker, Richard Motta and Joseph Hoyle Jr. had responded to the Mackay Park ice arena after a worker there was overcome by noxious fumes.
Rink equipment apparently had been leaking freon, authorities said.
Parker and Motta donned air packs, searched the building and found the unconscious victim.
They carried him outside, where they and Hoyle resuscitated him.
Last month, DPW employees Venton Miles and Cesar Naranjo sprung into action after an SUV barreled down Englewood’s main commercial drag -- just missing several pedestrians, knocking over a parking meter, a planter and a public trash can -- before finally slamming into a utility pole.
Miles and Naranjo freed the 90-year-old driver, who was bleeding from the head. They laid him on the sidewalk and kept him calm until emergency responders arrived.
SEE: SUV Driven By 90-Year-Old Man Barrels Through Englewood Shopping District
Back in June, a group effort brought a mail handler who’d collapsed at the Englewood post office back to life.
Following step-by-step instructions from dispatcher Michael Cangro, customer Ramón Maldonado began CPR on the 67-year-old victim.
Officers Shawn Ensenat, Adolfo Gutierrez and Mark Van Wormer arrived quickly and used a defibrillator to resuscitate the worker, who’d been with the U.S. Postal Service nearly 50 years.
Meanwhile, Officer George Coleman gathered the man’s medical history, collected pertinent information from witnesses and reached out to his family members.
The postal worker later underwent successful bypass surgery at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.
SEE: Englewood Police Revive Heart Attack Victim With Assist From Postal Supervisor
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