Heroes’ honor: Pictured are (from left to right) Sgt. Rocco Basile, Officer Vincent Goodchild and Capt. Frank Bachmayer.
Sgt. Rocco Basile and Officer Vincent Goodchild stopped an elderly man from attempting to shoot himself at the 7th Police District station in July and, as a result, have been named Officers of the Month in the district.
Members of the 7th Police District Advisory Council presented the awards to Basile and Goodchild during the council’s Sept. 18 meeting.
The incident occurred on July 21 at about 10:15 a.m. when a 79-year-old man entered the police station at Bustleton Avenue and Bowler Street, approached the service counter and stated that he was going to kill himself. The man pulled a loaded gun from his pants pocket, police said.
Goodchild immediately grabbed the man’s hand and wrestled him to the ground, while Basile helped disarm the distraught and suicidal man.
It was the second consecutive Officer of the Month award for Goodchild. In June, he and Officer Stephen Gantz earned the honor after they rendered first aid to a gunshot victim and then transported her to the hospital. The woman had been wounded seven times during an altercation on the 9900 block of Haldeman Ave. Someone drove her to the police station to seek help.
Gantz picked up the woman, placed her with Goodchild in the back of a police car and drove the woman to Aria Health-Torresdale. During the trip, Goodchild applied pressure to the woman’s wounds and attempted to calm her until they reached the emergency room, where she was admitted in critical condition. The officers are credited with preventing the possible loss of the young woman’s life. ••
