By Jerome Burdi
Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It started off as a quiet morning. Then Deputy William Badala got a disturbance call. Next: a shootout between him and a man toting an assault rifle and handgun.
And with those shots - that ended in the gunman’s arrest - Badala won the national TOP COPS Award this year. He is the first winner from Palm Beach County. The TOP COPS Awards have been issued by the National Association of Police Organizations since 1994 for outstanding service.
This year, 33 officers were awarded for 10 cases throughout the country and one case internationally. Badala was the only winner in Florida. The awards ceremony is Tuesday in Washington, D.C., hosted by John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted.
Badala’s case: The suspect Edward Voltz, 51, initially showed up to retrieve his car from a tow yard about 4:30 a.m. Oct. 22, deputies said. He was turned away. He returned after 9 a.m. demanding and arguing to get something from the impounded vehicle.
By 9:30 a.m., Badala was on his way for the “unwanted guest” at Lake Park Towing in the 800 block of 13th Street.
Before Badala arrived, investigators said, Voltz grabbed an assault rifle and a handgun from his car. He came back shooting, deputies said, striking owner Kathryn Gadoury in the hip and dispatcher Lisa Hedrick in the arm. He fired at two other workers but missed.
Badala said he pulled up and ordered Voltz to drop his weapons. He let go of the handgun but turned toward Badala with the assault rifle. Badala fired, striking Voltz, but it didn’t stop him. Voltz got up and allegedly returned fire. A brief shootout raged as Badala and Voltz took cover on either end of Voltz’s SUV.
Voltz finally went down after the sixth shot. He remains in county jail charged with four counts of attempted murder, one count of attempted murder on a law enforcement officer, as well as a weapons and burglary charge, records show. He is scheduled for trial in June.
Badala is a soft-spoken former New York City police officer who patrolled the Bronx near Yankee Stadium and worked search-and-rescue at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. After 12 1/2 years with the NYPD, Badala, 37, joined the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in 2005.
October was the first time he’d fired his gun on duty.
“It was pretty much training: Two shots, assess; another two or three, assess,” Badala said. “I didn’t have time to think, it was too quick.”
That’s why he was nominated, said John Kazanjian, president of the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association.
“He got ambushed answering that call,” Kazanjian said. “This guy came out blazing.”
Capt. Douglas Reece, commander of the Lake Park district, described Badala as a quiet hero: “Being right in the heat of the battle and doing what you need to survive and end it so no one else gets injured.”
Copyright 2009 Sun-Sentinel
2009 TOP COPS Award Winners:
Arizona
Phoenix Police Department
- Police Officer Fabian Gonzalez
California
Los Angeles Police Department
- Police Officer III Richard D. Alba
- Police Officer III Michael T. Barker
- Sergeant II Charles P. Buttitta
- Police Officer III Thomas M. Chinappi
- Police Officer III Floyd L. Curry
- Police Officer III Douglas J. Dingman
- Police Officer III German A. Hurtado
- Police Officer III David C. Keortge
- Police Officer III Mark G. Nee
- Police Officer III Michael W. Odle
- Police Officer III George Ryan, III.
- Police Officer III Anthony P. Samuelson
- Police Officer III Daniel Sanchez
- Police Officer III Stephen J. Scallon
- Police Officer III James E. Veenstra
Florida
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
- Deputy Sheriff William Badala
Georgia
Tifton Police Department
- Police Officer Dorminey D. McCrae
Idaho
Boise Police Department
- Police Officer Chris Davis
- Police Officer Jason Rose
Illinois
Skokie Police Department
- Police Officer Timothy Gramins
International
Drug Enforcement Administration
- Special Agent John Archer
- Special Agent William Brown
- Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul Craine
- Supervisory Special Agent Brian Dodd
- Supervisory Special Agent Louis J. Milione
- Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas J. Nargi
- Assistant Special Agent in Charge James Soiles
Louisiana
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office
- Deputy Rhonda Goff
Michigan
Dewitt Township Police Department
- Police Officer William Darnell
Missouri
Kansas City Police Department
- Police Officer David Loar
- Police Officer Christopher Skinner
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Police Department
- Police Officer Brian Freas