By Don Stacom
Source Hartford Courant
Bristol police Sgt. Dustin Demonte, 35, and Officer Alex Hamzy, 34, who were both shot dead late Wednesday night, were highly commended officers who previously earned awards for saving lives in medical emergencies, mourning city police and officials said Thursday.
Demonte, a father of two whose wife is expecting a third child, received an Officer of the Year award in 2019 for saving a dying man.
Three years earlier, Hamzy earned a Lifesaving Commendation for successfully doing CPR on a man in cardiac arrest.
In an emotional press conference Thursday morning, Chief Brian Gould praised both men along with wounded Officer Alec Iurato, 26, as heroes. All were shot outside a Redstone Hill Road house while answering an emergency call late Wednesday night.
“They answered a call to duty and they responded without hesitation,” a somber Gould told reporters assembled at a firehouse on Vincent P. Kelly Road. “That’s what they did every night before that, and that’s what our officers do and will continue to do day after day.”
Gould asked the community to pray for the officers and their relatives, and within minutes residents were posting condolences on social media.
One woman on Facebook’s Bristol Talks page suggested hanging blue lights on houses as a show of support, and another said she’d put up blue ribbons. Others suggested a vigil outside police headquarters Friday evening.
Gov. Ned Lamont directed flags in Connecticut lowered to half-staff, and called the shootings “a devastating reminder of the dangers that police officers face every day.”
Demonte and Hamzy were the first Bristol officers to be killed on the job since 1944. The Connecticut Law Enforcement Memorial lists 52 law enforcement officers across the state killed by gunfire since 1855.
Only once before were two officers in Connecticut killed in a single shooting: In 1935, Bridgeport Sgt. Thomas Kearney and Officer Wilfred Walker were shot as they chased an armed burglar down a city street.
On Thursday, Gould quietly read out the backgrounds of the both slain officers.
“Words cannot express the sadness and grief,” Gould said. “Sgt. Demonte was 35 years of age. He is survived by his wife, Laura, and his children, Phoebe and Porter and one on the way.”
Demonte, a 10-year veteran, was promoted to sergeant only a year ago. He had previously served as resource officer at Greene-Hills and West Bristol schools, and earned a Silver Star and Officer of the Month commendation for his work on patrol.
In 2019, he and Officer Zachary Levine were honored for saving an unconscious man in cardiac arrest in a Goodwin Street apartment. They both did CPR and restored his pulse before an ambulance arrived to take him to a hospital.
“The victim ultimately survived, and he is doing well,” reads the commendation from the Bristol Exchange Club.
Gould described Demonte as “very focused on furthering his career and education.” He held a bachelor’s degree in criminology with a minor in psychology from Central Connecticut State University.
Hamzy, who was a lifelong Bristol resident, married his wife, Kate, last year. He had been a patrol officer for eight years, and served on the regional emergency response team.
“Throughout his career he received numerous letters of commendation and recognition,” Gould said.
In 2016, he was given the police Silver Star for catching two burglary suspects while patrolling Page Park. They were in a van stolen during a burglary in New Hampshire, and had just burglarized a Farmington restaurant.
That same year, Hamzy also received a Lifesaving Commendation along with officers Dan Dwyer and Kevin Cyr for rescuing an unconscious 41-year-old man in cardiac arrest. They did CPR until an ambulance arrived.
“According to the on-scene paramedic, the officers’ actions saved a life and they did a great job,” police said in announcing the award. “The victim was hospitalized and ultimately survived.”
Iurato, who became a police officer just four years ago, was named an Officer of the Month last year for helping a suicidal man who was trying to wield a knife.
Police said Iurato and Officer Ben Draper answered a call about a suicidal man, and found him in a home wrestling with his mother for control of a knife. Iurato and Draper grabbed the knife and subdued the man. Police said he’d been trying to stab himself, and credited Iurato and Draper with saving him and his mother from injuries.
Both Hamzy and Demonte were advisers to cadets in the police Explorers program. City police described both men as going beyond their jobs for the community.
Hamzy, whose parents once owned the former Crystal Diner downtown, was known for volunteering for the annual “Cop on Top” fundraiser, where police camp out on the roof of the Route 6 Stop & Shop to get donations for the Jimmy Fund.
Six years ago, Demonte was part of a team that volunteered to clear overgrown shrubs from the memorial monument outside headquarters. The monument honors officers James McNamee, James Burns and Ernest Schilke, who until Wednesday night were the only Bristol police officers to die in the line of duty.
“Today our hearts are broken,” Mayor Jeff Caggiano said. “We’re united in immeasurable grief for those hero officers, for their families and friends, and for all of our law enforcement personnel.”
Caggiano said a silent vigil and gathering was planned for Thursday at Bristol Eastern High School at 5:30 p.m.
“We pray for them,” Caggiano said. “Bristol and the entire nation need to wrap our arms around them as well as our own loved ones.”
A “Bristol Police Heroes Fund” for the officers’ families has been established through the Bristol Police Union at Thomaston Savings Bank, Caggiano said. Donations are being accepted at all branches.
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