ADAMS, Mass. — Police Officer Samantha Morin was recognized for her actions this past week that are said to have saved the life of a stabbing victim.
A letter of commendation from Police Sgt. Dylan Hicks to the Board of Selectmen was read aloud by Chairwoman Christine Hoyt on Tuesday. The letter referred to a stabbing incident in the town that occurred on Monday.
"This is my deepest and most profound admiration, that I must willingly and gladly write to the select board, a letter of commendation for officers Samantha Morin and request that she be formally recognized for her heroic actions on Nov. 23, 2020," Hoyt read. "As a police officer for the town of Adams, in the field training program, she responded to a call for service to the stabbing and provided extraordinary life-saving measures in the form of medical aid to the victim."
Morin was sworn in as an officer in September after having served in the Army and with U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The assault was reported about 11:20 on Monday and Morin responded with Officers Travis Cunningham and Michael Rossi. They found the victim had been severely slashed with a knife and immediately rendered aid.
As a rookie officer, Morin showed a high level of poise and control over the situation and the "ability to perform under immense pressure and stress."
She applied the combat application tourniquet, or CAT, from her duty belt to the victim's upper arm to staunch the life-threatening loss of blood. She continued to provide aid while awaiting ambulance personnel and securing the scene.
After speaking to the training officer, Cunningham, Rossi, the emergency medical service and Berkshire Medical Center doctors, it was confirmed that Morin's action alone of applying a tourniquet preserved the victim's life.
"The failure to act or delayed action both definitely could have led to tragic outcome," Hoyt read.
Her exemplary actions reflected well on herself, the force and the town of Adams, Hicks wrote.
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Adams Welcomes New Officer; Appoints Housing Authority Board Member
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Officer Cole Desroches recently graduated from the Police Academy.
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen welcomed the newest member of the Adams Police Department, Officer Cole Desroches, on Wednesday evening.
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane. He attended Hoosac Valley High School and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
"He's going to serve and protect the town of Adams very well," said Crane, who with Sgts. Matthew Wright and Gregory Onorato stepped in to introduce the new officer while Chief R. Scott Kelley was on vacation.
"We don't often get an opportunity to kind of talk about, frankly, some of the positive things that are happening in town and one of the many things that I feel are positive with are the Adams Police Department," said Town Administrator Jay Green. "We are right now at full staff. We have a full complement of officers. We have a chief who just resigned a three-year contract. ... We have four very capable sergeants (including Donna Malloy)."
The force consists of the chief, the four sergeants, a full-time detective and 11 patrol officers. It also has a new position in Cpl. Joshua Baker who is responsible for training and keeping staff equipped.
"We're on the cutting edge of ensuring that we have proper training in a very changing environment with law enforcement," continued Green. "And we have a nice complement of officers and we have a well-respected detective who handles some very complicated cases."
He called out the half-dozen officers who attended the meeting for the work they're doing as well as the K9 unit.
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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