A Brooklynite killed in the line of duty and two fallen auxiliary officers were given the Police Department’s most prestigious honor last week during the NYPD’s Medal Day ceremony.
Officials said that a Medal of Honor award was given posthumously to Detective Russel Timoshenko, who was killed in a shootout with a crew of car thieves on Rogers Avenue near Lefferts Boulevard on July 9, 2007. His partner, Detective Herman Yan, also received a Medal of Valor award.
Timoshenko’s family came to 1 Police Plaza to receive the award. Tatyana Timoshenko, Russell’s mother, bowed graciously as Mayor Michael Bloomberg draped the medal over her neck.
Other posthumous Medal of Valor awards went to Auxiliary officers Eugene Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo.
Marshalik, a native of Midwood, was on patrol with Pekearo in Greenwich Village last March when they came face-to-face with a mad gunman who mistook them for NYPD officers.
Although they were not armed, the two volunteers pursued the gunman and managed to convince him to drop a bag containing some of his weapons. But the gunman pulled a second pistol and opened fire, killing them both, officials said.
Both auxiliary officers were given city and federal death benefits after a prolonged fight with federal officials.
Throughout the course of the ceremony, 33 peace officers received medals. Seventeen officers, including Sergeant Jeremy Berson of the 62nd Precinct in Bensonhurst, received the Police Combat Cross. Twelve other officers received the Medal of Valor.
“Through their extraordinary acts of courage, today’s medal winners have helped keep New York the safest big city in the country,” Mayor Bloomberg said as he presided over the ceremony. “The 33 medal winners prove that there are no limits to how far our Finest will go to protect our city, and that they love this city enough to make the ultimate act of self-sacrifice when it’s necessary.”
“Our ceremony today includes 33 examples of true heroism, stories of how — in an instant — the routine became extraordinary, a single decision became a defining moment, and an officer’s instinct became a measure of his character,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly added.
Besides the medal winners, special Unit Citations went to the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush and the 69th Precinct in Canarsie.
Unit Citations were given out to precincts that showed great drops in crime as well as an increase in arrests last year.
The 69th Precinct received the citation because the cops in the command achieved a 19 percent drop in felony crimes, and led the city in the reduction of felony assaults, which dropped by 27 percent last year.
Inspector William Aubry of the 67th Precinct and Captain Milt Marmara of the 69th Precinct were on hand to receive the citations.
Marmara, who just joined the command in May, accepted the award on behalf of the cops in the 69th Precinct “for the great job they did last year.”
