CENTERVILLE—Several police officers were recently honored for their roles in apprehending a suspected arsonist and helping three people victimized by that individual.

On July 21, officers were dispatched to a home at 329 E. 1825 North where a fire was in progress. Once there, the first officer on the scene Officer Alex Farnes evacuated two people from the home. While doing that she was confronted by the suspect later identified as Ammon Whitehead who said he had a knife. Farnes and other officers eventually were able to remove the suspect who had taken cover inside the burning home’s garage and to arrest him. 

On Oct. 4 Police Chief Paul Child recognized their efforts that day. At a city council meeting that evening, using drone footage and footage from Farnes body cam he recreated the incident. 

When he first received the call, Child initially thought an arsonist had started a wildfire on the mountainside, he said. However, it quickly became apparent that a suspicious individual officers had previously been trying to locate was the suspected arsonist. 

Farnes risked her own life to help the people who were evacuated from the home and to try and get the suspected arsonist to safety, Child said. The other officers who arrived on the scene later also prioritized the suspect’s safety over their own when, after getting him out of the garage, they took him to a safe spot away from the house behind a squad car. At that time, the suspect, believing he had cut the home’s gas line to the water tank, thought the house was going to explode. Officers took the time to calm the man and to ensure him he was safe, Child said. 

“I want to point out … the amount of care and professionalism exhibited by the officers who just risked their lives to save this man,” he said. “This is for a man that has just committed horrific crimes and yet our officers were treating him with a great deal of dignity, a great deal of respect… Even Detective [Kael] Jackson who had just been bit very hard by him was trying to comfort him and show compassion.”

“The fire department said he [the suspect] would have died if he had not been removed from the home – he spent several days in intensive care,” Child said. “The people downstairs, it was just a matter of time to get them out of the house…before it would have been too late. There were, in my opinion a lot of heroics involved in this case by our officers on this call.”

For their efforts Child presented Farnes, Jackson and Master Officer Shaun McWilliams with the Medal of Valor.  Det. Troy Cash, Master Officer Preston Casey, Sgt. Mike Dingman (not present) and Officer Justin Cyr received Lifesaving Awards.

During his presentation, the chief also mentioned that Farnes has been chosen to receive the UHP Medal of Valor for saving lives when, on March 21, she crashed her patrol vehicle into a wrong-way driver doing more than 80 mph at the Parrish Lane I-15 intersection. Farnes received that award on Oct. 13.

Child also presented the detective division, commanded by Sgt. Will Barnes, with a unit citation for their response to the July 21 incident.

“As is so often when we get situations like this … our detective division comes out,” he said. “They drop what they’re doing; they throw on a vest or whatever, and they head out the door. They handle calls; they respond on incidents at the drop of a hat which I think is very unusual in our line of work … Our detectives are above the mark on that. They are extraordinary in that they almost daily, if not multiple times a day, they’ll drop what they are doing, they’ll run out the door and they’ll assist on all kinds of incidents.”

Child also recognized civilian volunteer Brittany Tibbetts for her contributions to the department’s canine program through her work with the department’s bloodhound Sophie.

After the presentations, the officers received standing ovations from Mayor Clark Wilkinson, the city council and family, friends and peers in the audience that evening. Wilkinson thanked the officers and their families.

“I know that as families you’re there worrying about them when they’re on a call like that and we can’t thank you enough for that,” he said. λ