New Orleans (WGNO) – Beyond the yellow crime tape and flashing blue lights we see on the news all the time, there are stories of officers performing extraordinary acts of courage and service.
Donovan Livaccari is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police. He describes what two officers honored this week did to earn special recognition.
“The person who had the diabetic attack was absolutely thrilled with Officer Booker’s assistance and he had called with profuse praise that she had saved his life. And then the other incident she was involved in—she was able to, through her keen observation, basically stop an armored car robbery from happening.”
He went on, “Detective Johnson’s contribution was basically just hard work, good thorough detective work, through beating the streets and using every resource that was available to her she was able to solve a car-jacking and recover some other stolen property.”
Livaccari is part of the committee that chose the two women to be named NOPD superstars, 4th District Officer Quannecia Booker and 3rd District Detective Lashawn Johnson.
And Livaccari came up with a plan to take the new quarterly awards one step further by giving them in honor of NOPD Officer Daryle Holloway, who was killed in the line of duty June 20th.
When she was given the Ultimate Sacrifice Medal of Honor in her son’s name, Mrs. Holloway made a request.
“She said that we should honor police officers while they’re alive so that they’re able to smell the roses and we thought that this was a perfect opportunity really to honor Daryle, and his mother’s wishes at the same time,” said Livaccari, who says each woman was given a beautiful glass and wood award and a $100 American Express gift card.
Officer Holloway’s uncle, New Orleans Attorney David Belfield, III, says the family is happy to have his name associated with good police work.
He says the family is confident there are plenty of officer Holloway’s out there with stories to be told.
“I would hope that the officers who received the awards would receive it in the same spirit that Daryle would have, had he been around to receive the award, and that they continue to be examples of the kind of police work that Daryle did—and the kind of police work that we need to make this city a better place to live,” says Belfield.