Four Wicomico County deputies have each been awarded a Medal of Valor from the National Sheriff’s Association for what Sheriff Mike Lewis called “outstanding” acts performed in the line of duty.

All four have been credited with saving lives while responding to calls, Lewis said.

On the afternoon of Nov. 10, 2018, Deputy 1^st Class Howard Bowden and Deputy 1^st Class Chris Pecoraro went to the scene of a stabbing.  The deputies arrived to a chaotic scene, where the suspect was believed to be on foot in the area. 

One stabbing victim with serious injuries was lying in the front yard, and a second victim was found a block away.  The deputies were able to secure the scene, provide life-saving measures to the critically injured victims, all while soliciting information for the case from the victims and nearby witnesses. 

As Bowden treated one victim, he was able to get enough details to identify the suspect before the victim died due to massive blood loss and shock.

The deputies were able to assist in quickly identifying and locating the suspect, who had fled the neighborhood into the city of Salisbury. The suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. 

“The quick and decisive actions of these deputies led to saving the life of one of these victims, quickly identifying the murder suspect, and helping to secure a solid case for prosecution.” Lewis said. 

In a separate case on Nov. 30, 2018, Deputy 1^st Class Ben Parsons and Deputy 1^st Class Dylan Miller were dispatched to a motor vehicle collision involving entrapment.  The deputies saw that a van was overturned on its driver’s side lying into a muddy roadside ditch. The work van was full of construction equipment that violently shifted during the crash. 

The deputies could not see if anybody was in the van, and they discovered that all of the vehicles doors were locked and badly damaged from the crash. They broke the rear window and crawled inside this van.  Once they clawed their way to the front, they located the driver whose upper torso was buried in deep mud and dislodged equipment. The driver was unresponsive and non-breathing. 

These two deputies cleared the debris to get to the driver, and established an immediate airway in an attempt to save his life. Fire and rescue units arrived on the scene, and it took them an additional 30 minutes to extricate the driver from the vehicle. 

“Because of the quick and decisive actions of these deputies to enter the vehicle, locate the victim and establish an airway, the driver has now made a full recovery and has been reunited with his family,” Lewis said.

Both Bowden and Pecoraro are tenured deputies with over 19 years at the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.  Parsons is a 19 year veteran of the department, and Miller is a two-year veteran.

All four men were honored with proclamations on Tuesday from the Wicomico County Council.