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Officer Michael Citarelli, Officer Thomas Hill and Detective Michael Camerata were called to a local residence where a 31-year-old man who suffers from schizophrenia was having a psychological episode around 11:45 a.m. on Monday, March 2, township police said in a release.
The man — whose family told police that he had not been taking his medications and had been threatening them for several days prior — was standing at the top of a staircase and holding a large knife up to his throat, authorities said.
The man was initially adamant about wanting to harm himself or wanting officers to shoot him, authorities said.
The officers talked to the man for several minutes before he calmed down and dropped the knife, authorities said.
The man was transported to the hospital for psychological evaluation and treatment.
“Officer Michael Citarelli, Officer Thomas Hill and Detective Michael Camerata are awarded the Meritorious Service Award for accomplishing an act under adverse conditions with some degree of hazard to life and limb to the officer and where serious injury to a third party is prevented,” officials said.
“Through their actions they were able to prevent the male from taking his own life or forcing them to use deadly force.”
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