Rocky Mount officers honored for valor, delivering baby

Senior Police Officer Leon Peele was awarded the department's Life Saving Ribbon, while Senior Police Officer Tim Braddy and Officer Jerry Judd received the Medal of Valor.

Police said that Peele went to help a woman who hadn't realized she was pregnant until she went into labor in a bathroom at her house early last December.

Peele took the newborn, still attached to the umbilical cord, from a toilet, police said. He cleared the infant's nose and mouth and stayed until EMS workers arrived. Mother and child were taken to Nash General Hospital.

Police said that Braddy and Judd were the first at a two-vehicle wreck at Old Battleboro and Morning Star Church roads on May 9, 2010.

The car was on fire, and a passenger was trapped inside. The officers used fire extinguishers but couldn't put out the blaze.

With the help of two volunteer firefighters, Braddy and Judd pulled the passenger – 23-year-old Antone Felder – out of the car before it was engulfed in flames, police said. Felder later died of his injuries.

The driver who had fled the scene – Donald Oliver Jones – was apprehended later that night.

Senior Police Officer Jeffrey Cairns was elected by fellow police as the 2010 Luncheon Lions' Officer of the Year. He is a member of the Street Engagement Team.

The police department also honored civilian employees.

Alison Long, a police records clerk/station supervisor, won the Civilian Employee of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

Communications supervisor Angela Earl was chosen as the 2010 Telecommunicator of the Year.