A Weld County sheriff’s correctional officer walked away with the first Sam Brownlee Medal of Valor award on Wednesday for saving three people from a burning apartment building last summer.
After Weld Sheriff John Cooke put the ribbon and medal on his neck, Jerry Aguirre Jr., 26, of Greeley, thanked his parents for teaching him the right things to do.
“What I know, I learned from them,” said Aguirre, while his parents, Jerry Sr. and Kathy Aguirre, and sheriff’s deputies looked on during an award ceremony at the Weld County Commissioners meeting.
It was the first time the medal of valor — the Weld County Sheriff’s Office’s second highest award — had been given in the name of deputy Sam Brownlee. It also was the first valor award given to a corrections officer.
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