# Tewksbury officer honored for valor



## benike84 (Apr 11, 2006)

*Tewksbury officers honored for valor
*By ALEXANDRA MAYER-HOHDAHL, Sun Staff

TEWKSBURY -- At just 26 years old, police officer Brian O'Neill will soon join the ranks of the state's most highly decorated law-enforcement officials, seven months after he was shot in the leg while capturing a robbery suspect. 
O'Neill and fellow Tewksbury officer Douglas Pratt will receive George L. Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery from Gov. Mitt Romney on Sept. 25, for their role in arresting Joseph Croteau of Lowell after a high-speed chase in March. 
Both will receive medals of valor -- the second highest Hanna award -- during the Statehouse ceremony. Hanna was a 36-year-old Massachusetts State Police trooper who was killed in 1983, after he was shot during a traffic stop in Auburn. 
"Officers O'Neill and Pratt showed extreme courage in the face of grave danger," Chief Al Donovan said in a statement. "If it was not for their heroic actions and extraordinary courage, the suspect would have remained at large and presented a danger to the community." 
Neither O'Neill nor Pratt could be reached for comment yesterday. 
Croteau, who is due back in court next week for a hearing, faces 16 charges related to the incident, including armed assault to murder. He has also been indicted as an armed career criminal, which comes with a 15-year minimum mandatory state-prison sentence if he is found guilty. 
Prosecutors say that Croteau, 29, jumped over a counter at a Tewksbury Mobil on the Run shortly before 11:30 a.m. on March 1 and snatched a cash envelope containing $400 from a clerk's hand. He then fled in a van that had been reported stolen in Lowell an hour earlier. 
O'Neill and Pratt, who were responding to the robbery, passed the van as it was fleeing from the station. Pratt "immediately turned their cruiser around and began to pursue the vehicle," a press release from the Tewksbury Police Department says. 
The chase ended in front of the Fox Hill Cemetery in Billerica, after Croteau collided with a Billerica police cruiser and crashed the van into a utility pole. Croteau was met by O'Neill and Pratt when he crawled out feet first from one of the van's windows. 
Prosecutors say the officers tried to handcuff Croteau after having holstered their weapons, but he resisted and gained control of O'Neill's gun. Croteau fired one shot, prosecutors said, and the bullet entered O'Neill's thigh and traveled down his leg before exiting through his shin. 
Croteau tried to fire a second shot, but the gun jammed, prosecutors said. Croteau was ordered held on $750,000 cash bail in April after pleading innocent to all charges. 
O'Neill returned to work at the Tewksbury Police Department in June after spending 3 1/2 months on sick leave. He has been placed on "light duty" until he fully recovers from the shooting. For now, he is working in the criminal bureau, assisting detectives with ongoing investigations, working the phones and handling reports. 
O'Neill and Pratt are not the only local police officers who will be honored with the George L. Hanna Memorial Awards for Bravery. This year's group award will go to the SWAT team from the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council, which includes Chelmsford Sgt. Paul Cooper, Dracut Lt. Stephen Chaput, Lowell officer James Fay, Burlington Sgt. Tim McDonough and Concord Sgt. Roy Mulcahy. 
The SWAT team is being honored for diffusing a shoot-out in Pepperell last summer involving 20-year-old Nicholas Litchfield. Litchfield, of 39 Shattuck St., is serving two years in jail after pleading guilty to charges that he fired at police during the five-hour standoff. 
Litchfield kept police at bay until 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 4, when the SWAT team fired tear-gas canisters into the house. He was then forced to surrender. Alexandra Mayer-Hohdahl's e-mail address is amayer-[email protected]


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2006)

All these officers are a credit to their proffession.


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## mikeyd1313 (Jul 30, 2006)

congratulations.


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## EOD1 (Mar 11, 2004)

Job Well Done!


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