Great Barrington — There wasn’t a dry eye at the Mason Library Tuesday evening (April 5) at an inaugural Police Department ceremony to honor two retiring, longtime officers and three women who acted heroically at the scene of a horrific car accident in 2012.
Chief William Walsh, Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) and officer Adam Carlotto, for the Police Association, noted the outstanding service of officers Paul Montgomery and Daniel Bersaw, and even recognized their wives, as making “this all happen,” particularly for Bersaw, who for years took the “midnight shift.” And Montgomery worked multiple details and lots of overtime “in all weather,” Walsh said.
Walsh said when Montgomery began 44 years ago, police work “was different than it was today.” Montgomery grew up in a large family in Housatonic, and started out as an officer there. Walsh said rather than call the station, people would often go to Montgomery to solve problems and deal with complaints. “An early stage of community policing,” Walsh said.
Bersaw spent 25 years at the department, and Walsh said he was a steady, no hassles worker who he could always be counted on. A serious health problem took him out for a while, but he pulled through and stayed on the job a while longer.
Walsh noted how important the “strong family support system” is for police officers with their “crazy hours and schedules,” and he gave a nod to Bersaw and Montgomery’s wives, Shirley and Carol.
Walsh and Pignatelli also presented Certificates of Appreciation to three women who happened upon a car accident near the former Route 7 Grill on Route 7, in which Mark Thomen of East Caanan, Conn., traveling southbound, was hit by a car pulling out of the restaurant. Thomen’s car flipped and he was partly ejected out a passenger window and his arm pinned beneath his car.
“I still shake my head when I think about it,” Walsh said, before he introduced Kimberly Gasperini, Alexa Quartararo and Celina Sinico, and explained how the three women lifted the car to free Thomen’s arm. They also stayed with him, talked to him and comforted him as he went in and out of consciousness, Walsh said, until the first responders and Great Barrington officers Kristopher Balestro and Victor Zucco arrived. Thomen was eventually extracted by the jaws of life.
“If it wasn’t for [the women] it would have been a lot worse,” said an emotional Thomen, who spent two years in “brutal” rehabilitation for his arm, and had a skin graft on his leg, and told The Edge even the doctors were unsure how it would turn out for him. “I can’t thank you guys enough, from the bottom of my heart.”
Walsh said it was important to note that “people can always help police and first responders.”
Chief Walsh said he would also soon hand out medals to various officers in a private ceremony at the Great Barrington Police Station.
