Graduate with honors
The courageous NYPD recruit who during his third day of field training gunned down a cop -killer in The Bronx was honored for his bravery at the Police Academy graduation Wednesday.
Elwin Martinez, 25, who became the first trainee in department history to use lethal force, received a standing ovation at Madison Square Garden when presented with the Exceptional Police Duty Award.
He was in the middle of his final day of a field-training program when he fatally shot Manuel Rosales, who had opened fire on a group of officers from inside his car, killing Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo.
“When Paul Tuozzolo was murdered by an armed suspect in The Bronx, Officer Martinez, who was in the midst of field training, immediately fired back at the suspect, killing him,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill recounted at the ceremony.
“In doing so, he likely saved other officers that were directly in harm’s way.”
The top cop thanked Martinez and called him “an exceptional young man,” who “showed incredible courage under fire” in the 43rd Precinct.
During the ceremony, Martinez was sworn in with 554 other Police Academy graduates. It was the first class of cops to graduate under O’Neill.
“This is one of the most exciting days of your lives,” O’Neill told the crowd. “You deserve all the praise and recognition for all of your hard work that you’ve put in over the last six months.”
Newly minted cop Joseph Vigiano, whose detective dad died in the 9/11 terror attacks, also received an award at the graduation ceremony.
“After the tragedy of September 11, the NYPD really took my family in, even more so than they already had,” said Vigiano, who received the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association Award for Outstanding Company Sergeant.
“They just brought us in and took care of us, so I want to be part of that family.”
Vigiano will begin his career in the 75th Precinct, where both his parents started out.
Terryann Ferguson, a 30-yearold graduate who worked as a traf- fic cop for the NYPD in 2007 before moving to South Carolina, said she was happy to be policing again in the Big Apple.
“What [I liked] about the NYPD specifically would be just the diversity,” she explained. “In South Carolina, I didn’t have that much diversity.”
“I hope young, black females will see me as, ‘ You know what, I could be there one day,’ ” Ferguson added.