The St. Charles Police Department’s Johnathon Losurdo has been named officer of the year by the Kane County Chiefs of Police Association for decisive action that saved a woman’s life.

St. Charles police officer Johnathon Losurdo accepts the Louis Spuhler Award from St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan. (CREDIT: Kane County Chiefs of Police Association)

The association, in partnership with the Batavia Moose Lodge #682, presented Losurdo with the Louis Spuhler Award for outstanding police work in 2016 at a banquet held earlier this month at the Pheasant Run Resort.

Losurdo was nominated by St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan, who described a March 18 incident in which Losurdo was dispatched to a local hotel to investigate the report of a possible suicide in progress.

Upon arrival, Losurdo was told that a despondent female family member was in the hotel room and was attempting to hang herself in the bathroom. The subjects said they had attempted to intervene but the woman forced them out of the bathroom and locked the door.

Losurdo announced his presence at the bathroom door, and after receiving no response, forced the door open. Inside the bathroom, he found an unresponsive woman with a bed sheet wrapped around her neck, hanging from the shower curtain rod.

Losurdo immediately raised the woman’s body to relieve the pressure around her neck, then retrieved a knife from his pocket and cut the sheet away from the curtain rod. He placed the victim on the floor, removed the sheet from her neck and prepared to perform other life saving measures. The victim regained partial consciousness and was subsequently transported by fire department medics to receive additional medical care.

“The quick and decisive actions taken by Officer Losurdo in this incident were no doubt the difference between life and death for this individual,” Keegan said.

The Louis Spuhler Award is named after a retired lieutenant from the Kane County Sheriff’s Office who approached the Batavia Moose Lodge with an idea to recognize the top police officer in the county. Spuhler passed away before he could see his idea put into action, but the award was named in his honor.

Kane County Chiefs of Police Association Award Committee Chair Deputy Chief David Kintz said the annual event, now in its 40th year, is a terrific way to recognize the public-safety work done every in Kane County that doesn’t always get a lot of attention or recognition.

“Each of the 14 nominations this year was an example of the great work that officers do throughout the county on a daily basis,” he said. “It is a difficult process for the Batavia Moose Lodge to only pick one winner. ”

Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns was the keynote speaker at the March 9 event held at Pheasant Run. He expressed his gratitude to every officer for the work they do on a daily basis and gave a special shout out to the contingent of Geneva officers who were there to support their two nominees.

SOURCE: Kane County Chiefs of Police Association news release