Page 50 - July2019 FOP Magazine

aig oe of heir ow ears officers C award
■ BY DAN CAMPANA
The potential for danger lurks every time Chicago Police Officers execute a search warrant – something that was performed 1,300 times in 2018.
Earlier this year, the worst-case sce- nario nearly came to fruition when a 25th District tactical team went to conduct a search in connection to a suspect believed to be supplying drugs to high schools on the Northwest Side. The incident escalated into gunfire and an officer being struck, but the heroic actions of other officers helped to avert further tragedy.
hose efforts earned five officers ⁠— n- dres Cuenca, Felix Batista, Danien Cabrera, aria uc and esar alade ⁠— the hica- go Police Memorial Foundation’s Officer of the onth ward for une.
Things deteriorated quickly just before 7:30 p.m. on March 9. The team members arrived at the apartment to execute the warrant, announced that they were police officers and demanded the suspect to open the door. The woman refused, prompting Cuenca to use a battering ram in an at- tempt to break down the door. Cuenca’s repeated attempts were thwarted because the door had been barricaded on the inside. Officials said the suspect also had cameras
positioned to see the police outside.
On Cuenca’s third attempt to ram the door, a gunshot was fired from inside the apartment. It struck Cuenca in the shoul- der, bounced off his spine and lodged in his neck. Cuenca lost all feeling and dropped the battering ram on his foot, fracturing it.
He also fell to the floor.
Valadez and Batista each acted to shield
Cuenca from additional gunfire, with Batis- ta using his body to protect his injured col- league. Batista checked Cuenca to identify where he had been shot but wisely didn’t attempt to move Cuenca, which could have caused further injuries.
s the officers waited for paramedics to arrive, Kuc cradled Cuenca’s neck to pre- vent additional spinal damage. Using Vala- des medical it arera stopped the bleeding from Cuenca’s shoulder by applying a blood-clotting bandage. Medics made it to the scene and transported Cuen- ca to Stroger Hospital, where he spent sev- en days in the ICU.
Officials said Cuenca served eight years as a Marine and was deployed twice to Iraq, including one tour during which his unit was attacked by an IED. “He survived that attack, only to be shot by a 19-year-old girl on the streets of Chicago,” CPMF Executive Director Phil Cline said. “Officer Cuenca
has a long road of recovery ahead of him.” The suspect tried to escape but was cap- tured and charged with attempted murder. Cline said the five officers who were rec- ognized represented tactical teams across the city working the streets as part of inves-
tigations involving “hardened criminals.” “The execution of a search warrant is one of the most dangerous parts of an officer’s duties, yet they do them every day with dis- regard for their own safety,” Cline offered. “These officers work tirelessly in some of the most violent areas without a thought about the dangerous situations they place themselves in, just to be the police and take
a criminal off the street.”
Cline explained that the law enforce-
ment profession is a calling, and one that makes a difference. “These officers do just that ⁠— the mae a difference and we are proud to honor them,” he said.
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50 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2019