BRADENTON--Officers Matthew Johnston and Anthony Ramdath will share the Officer of the Month award for December 2010 and Detective James Curulla is the recipient of the Detective of the Month, the Bradenton Police Department announced today.
The officers were honored for their role in the arrest of an armed felon and Detective Curulla for investigating and closing a homicide case.
Officers Johnston and Ramdath responded to a report of a man with a gun wandering around an apartment complex around 10 p.m. Nov. 13. Assuming the suspect would flee at the sight of a police car, the officers parked at the entrance and approached the building on foot. The officers spotted a person matching the suspect’s description, positioned themselves so that the suspect could not flee and approached him to perform a pat down.
The suspect was found armed with a handgun tucked in a holster. A convicted felon and suspect in many stolen vehicle cases, the man was arrested and another gun removed from the streets of Bradenton.
In an unrelated incident in October, Detective Curulla responded to a home on 14th Avenue East where an unknown man was found dead in the yard due to a stab wound to the chest. An extensive investigation begin immediately: door-to-door canvassing of the area, searching the area for any possible evidence, attempting to locate any possible witnesses or suspects, treating the surrounding areas with chemicals to enhance any blood, handing out flyers in the neighborhood and speaking with dozens of local residences in the area – but with little results.
Detective Curulla didn’t stop there. Taking a different approach to the investigation, he contacted his contacts in the community and partnered with a local church to spread the word in an attempt to encourage anyone with information to come forward. The move paid off – a person with information contacted him. The homicide was solved; it was determined to have occurred in self-defense. Finding out what happened helped bring the family and the community closure, police said.
In their nomination of Detective Curulla, Lt. Warren Merriman and Detective Lt. John Affolter wrote, ”You knew from the very start of this investigation that it was going to be an uphill battle to solve and you stepped up to the challenge where others may have not. You are one of the hardest working detectives in the division and you give 110% on all of your cases and are a true asset to the city police department.“
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