RON COLQUITT, The Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- Despite nicknames of “Grandpa” and “Daddy,” two 50-something men outperformed much younger candidates at Mobile’s police academy, with one earning the highest award given to graduating officers.
Damian Orihuela, called “Daddy” by his academy peers, got the Chief’s Award, while Mark Johnson, known affectionately as “Grandpa,” was elected class president during the 20 grueling weeks of police academy.
For Orihuela, 51, the Sept. 19 graduation was a dream come true.
“It was a great feeling of accomplishment,” the Cuban immigrant said. “I knew I was going to make it. My biggest concern was getting injured, and I did suffer a few injuries during the academy (sic).”
Chief Sam Cochran said Orihuela is the oldest person ever to receive the Chief’s Award, given to the top graduating officer in a class.
The average age of recruits who successfully complete the academy training is 32, according to Cpl. Marcus Young, a Mobile police spokesman.
Johnson, also 51, known to many in the community from his former high-profile role as director of the United Way of Southwest Alabama, was chosen president of the class of 26 new officers, most of them in their early 20s.
The former director, who spent a total of 22 years with different United Way agencies, said graduating from the academy was the best day of his half-century.
“It beat college graduation, high school graduation, and it even beat breaking $7 million with United Way,” Johnson said, referring to United Way’s 2000 campaign.
Orihuela said he was 14 when he and members of his family arrived in New York City after his parents fled Cuba to escape President Fidel Castro’s communist regime.
Only a slight trace of Orihuela’s Cuban accent remains after his many years in America, including a total of 12 years in the Air Force and Army.
Even though he has lived in America for 37 years, Orihuela said he still feels like he owes his new country a debt because “freedom is very expensive, extremely expensive. I personally feel that I have not paid enough.”
Orihuela said he learned aircraft maintenance in the Air Force and worked in aircraft maintenance at Mobile Aerospace Engineering at the Brookley complex near downtown. He often dreamed of becoming a police officer, but by middle age he had just about shelved that plan, he said.
Orihuela, who is single, has one son who is 15 and another who is 29. The older son lives in Collier County, Fla., where he works as a Sheriff’s Department deputy. It was that son who made the telephone call that helped Orihuela realize his lifelong goal.
“He called me up and said, ‘Dad, you know there is no age restriction,’ and I said, ‘You are kidding.’ He said there was a guy in his class who was 57 years old.”
Orihuela said he immediately called the Mobile Police Department to check on the age limit and was told there is no age limit to be a Mobile police officer.
“I didn’t waste one minute. I immediately got on the phone as soon as I found out officially that there was no age limit. I came in the next day and applied,” Orihuela said.
During the academy training, which included classes in police procedures and law, the 6-foot-tall Orihuela said he lost fat, but replaced it with muscle, maintaining his 235-pound weight. He said that after graduating, he increased his strength training and lost 10 pounds.
The academy’s course required that in 90 seconds, trainees had to push a patrol car 15 feet; run about 40 yards and climb over a 6-foot wall; dash another 20 yards and crawl through a mock-up of a window frame; run another 20 yards and walk across a 6-inch-wide, 12-foot-long beam; run another 20 yards and pull a 165-pound human dummy 15 feet.
Orihuela said he and Johnson tried to help each other.
“Absolutely not, I have no fear. I will work as long as I can.”
“Grandpa,” the 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Johnson, said he struggled with his decision to quit his job at United Way, which paid three times more than the $24,744 starting salary of a rookie cop.
He said family and friends tried to convince him that he was too old, that police officers didn’t make enough money and the work was dangerous. But Johnson said he had dreamed of being a police officer since he was a child.
Johnson said he has arthritis and other problems with his right shoulder and was concerned that he could not do the required number of push-ups.
Like Orihuela, Johnson said he began training for the academy by running and working out with weights.
“I had never been a runner, so I did lot of running to get in shape cardiovascular-wise,” he said. “I would do three miles at least, three times a week.”
Johnson said the younger officers, especially the field training officer he rides with now during the required, three-month, on-the-job training period, tease him about his age.
He said he also fears being shot or badly injured, and that is one of his wife’s greatest fears.
Johnson did say he particularly enjoys a good chase. During the first days of his training period, Johnson said he got to make an arrest.
He and other officers chased three men after they jumped from their still-moving car and fled through a neighborhood, Johnson said.
“We found one pretty quickly hiding under a house, but there was still one at large,” he said. “I was running through kudzu patches, had spider webs in my face, and it was at night, and it was in a part of town where there were a lot of out buildings and rickety little shacks in the back yards, so there were a lot of places to hide.”
Johnson said he found one of the men hiding beneath a small trailer and arrested him on the spot.
“Now that was exciting,” the new officer said.