Social worker Samanda Wagner spent three years trying to assess the welfare of a developmentally challenged boy who had not attended school in three years. If it were not for Officer Jaime Lucero, she says, the child may have continued to live idly in front of a TV without treatment or care.
An initial welfare check to the boy’s home didn’t set off any red flags, but Lucero returned twice to the home on his own initiative and time before discovering the child’s well-being was in danger.
For his actions, Lucero, a seven-year veteran of the Denver Police Department, is one of two officers presented with the Citizen’s Appreciate Police Award Wednesday in Denver.
“I think a lot of times you do something and you don’t know what the effects of your actions are,” said Wagner, who nominated Lucero for the award. “If he had not followed up on the child it just would have ended there and the child would be in the same spot.”
Lucero, 34, said he acted as any other officer would have acted in the same situation.
Also receiving the award was Officer Robert Fitzgibbons, honored for his response to a stranded elderly couple from Mexico who couldn’t locate family in Denver. He arranged for a hotel, bought the couple a meal out of his own pocket and arranged for help from the Mexican Consulate and the Spanish language channel Univison to find the couple’s family.
“By helping them out, they will go home to their relatives and friends and tell them what kind of officers the city of Denver has,” said Fitzgibbons, an 8-year veteran of the department.
The award is presented quarterly by Citizens Appreciate Police, a non-profit organization formed in 1978 that has recognized the actions of more than 200 Denver police officers in serving the public.
“There are circumstances when officers have really gone above and beyond the call of duty,” said Denver Assistant District Attorney Chuck Lepley, who is president of the organization. “We are trying to give our appreciation and thanks to show what Denver Police Officers are made of.”
Staff writer Michael McCollum can be reached at 303-820-1201 or mmccollum@denverpost.com
