Not long before tonight’s High Point stabbing, we happened to have been downtown in a big room with hundreds of police officers — all the way up to Chief Gil Kerlikowske. The occasion: The annual Seattle Police Foundation awards banquet, and SPD invited us (among others – we found ourselves sitting next to Casey McNerthney, a major contributor to the P-I‘s “911” blog). Glad we were there so we could report back about some of the West Seattle-linked winners — like the ones from multiple precincts, shown above (via cameraphone) as they accepted their awards, collectively as the “West Seattle Bank Robbery Response,” for their work during the wild crosstown incident July 1st that started with a robbery at the Admiral Wells Fargo and continued to a downtown standoff which ended with the shooting of a suspect (who survived). Read on for the names of those honored for this effort, and other West Seattle-linked honorees tonight:

(July 1st WSB photo, courtesy Sharonn Meeks)
Honored for the West Seattle Bank Robbery Response (all names taken directly from the program for tonight’s event at the Seattle Sheraton): Sgt. Joe Bauer, Sgt. Michael Teeter, Sgt. Mike Magee, Officer Mark Spandoni, Officer Alex Jenkins, Officer Nicole Freutel, Officer Joel Huston, Officer Nicholas Evans, Officer Ralph Wilson, Officer Melissa Wengard, Officer Paige Maks, Officer Erin Rodriguez, Officer Stephen Sperry, Officer Ryan Blake, Officer Erin Smith, Officer Chriseley Lang, Officer Jeff Geoghagen, Officer Dwayne Pirak, Officer Clay Stockwell, Officer Tim Pasternak, Officer John Novak, Officer Ben Morrison, Officer Tom Fitzgerald, Officer Shawn Benshoof, Officer John Lamp, Officer Steve Mathisen, Officer Jim Landers, Officer Tom Persons, Officer Todd Radcliffe, Officer Dave Henry, Officer Steve Redmond, King County Sheriff’s Deputy William Kennamer.

“If you’re going to rob a bank, West Seattle wouldn’t be the place to do it,” emcee Pat Cashman quipped after that group award was presented.

Also among the honorees:

Each precinct named an Officer of the Year, and for West Seattle’s Southwest Precinct, it is Officer Ernest DeBella. The program explains, “Officer DeBella was selected by the Command Staff of the Southwest Precinct because of his dedication to his job, his willingness to go above and beyond the ‘expected.’ … Recently Officer DeBella sustained a severe knee injury during a foot pursuit of a wanted suspect. At the hospital his only concern was that staffing not be utilized to protect him, but to protect the citizens of Seattle.”

Among the “Outstanding Public Service” honorees, along with the “West Seattle Bank Response” group, an award was presented to Officer Jeff Thompson for a daring move to stop a runaway car — our archives don’t have any coverage of this incident, but the program tells the story quite grippingly: “On December 6, 2007, Officer Thompson was on patrol and spotted a vehicle that had been reported stolen. As soon as he turned around to follow the vehicle, it began to flee. Officer Thompson activated his emergency equipment and followed the vehicle. Just seconds into the situation, he saw the person driving and the front-seat passenger leap from the vehicle as it was still moving. The car was now traveling with no driver down Delridge Ave SW, a busy thoroughfare through West Seattle. The area was bustling with people, school had recently let out and the vehicle was headed toward a school bus. In a decision that can only be described as courageous, Officer Thompson pulled up next to the car and bumped it with his patrol vehicle in an attempt to push it out of the path of the bus and off the road. His execution of this maneuver was flawless. The vehicle narrowly missed a parked car, jumped the curb and came to rest against a building. Officer Thompson then secured his vehicle and the stolen vehicle and chased the fleeing suspects, giving an incredibly accurate description and direction of travel to officers arriving in the area. After a brief area search the driver was located and arrested. Due to Officer Thompson’s commitment to duty, professionalism, courageous actions and quick thinking, a tragedy was averted that afternoon.”

(May 13 WSB photo courtesy Sage K)
Another “Outstanding Public Service” group award went to Officers Nathan Patterson, Ernest DeBella, and Chris Hairston, for “Southwest Shooting Response” for work on several shootings in May 2008 (they weren’t specified, but it’s the same time frame as the shooting of a mother and son on Delridge).

One more Southwest Precinct recipient — Community Police Team Officer Darin Chinn, who focuses on South Park, was honored as a “Community Ambassador.”

Many other honorees from around the city; no time to type them all in now, but we’ll keep an eye out for when the full list appears on the Seattle Police Foundation site and/or the city’s website. Tonight’s banquet was not a city-sponsored event; it’s sponsored by the foundation, which describes itself as an “independent, nonprofit organization (launched) in January 2002.” The foundation raises money to support Seattle Police in areas such as community partnership and specialized equipment/technology/training.