Officers honored at Lisbon ceremony

The incident took place in February.

STAFF REPORT

LISBON — Two troopers and a sergeant from the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Lisbon Post, a dispatcher from the patrol’s Lisbon Dispatch Center and a Columbiana County deputy sheriff and sergeant were honored for their skill in handling a hostage situation involving a mother and her three children at Guilford Lake in Hanover Township.

Trooper Michael S. Smith, Trooper Kenneth A. Metz, Sgt. Thomas R. Hermann, Dispatcher Anthony J. D’Apolito, county Deputy Randy Baughman and Sgt. Thomas Foley were presented certificates of recognition Tuesday by Capt. James Holt, commander of the patrol’s Warren District, for their professionalism.

On Feb. 20, Smith, Metz and Hermann responded when the sheriff’s office requested assistance at a residence where a man with a large knife was holding a woman and her 11-month-old child hostage in a bedroom.

Metz joined Baughman and Foley in the house. Upon entering, the female victim was able to get out of the home with her child, but two other children remained inside the house in another bedroom.

With the suspect holding the knife to his own throat and threatening officers in the house, Foley attempted to engage the suspect in conversation to calm him down.

Baughman and Smith moved to the bedroom in which the other children were located. As it became clear that the suspect intended to harm himself, Metz deployed his Taser, striking the suspect. The suspect dropped the knife, fell onto the bed and was secured without further incident.

During the situation, D’Apolito managed the dispatching for the patrol officers as well as the on-scene deputies, allowing those officers to continue efforts to engage the suspect in conversation and not have to stop repeatedly to answer the radios.

In addition, D’Apolito kept the sheriff’s office dispatcher advised of the situation while maintaining contact with all the officers involved.