Officer Kevin Will, 38, this morning received two awards posthumously, the Medal of Valor and the Life Saving Award. At the ceremony, Officer Will's widow and his three children -- one of them an infant born since his death -- were there to receive the awards on his behalf.
The officer was investigating a crash on the North Loop on May 29 when police say an intoxicated driver went around the police barricade. Officer Will had been talking to a witness who he warned in time for that witness to escape being hit. Officer Will was struck and killed.
There were 92 officers and civilians being honored today at the LD Morrison Training Academy on Aldine-Westfield in northeast Houston for varying degrees of service. But it is rare, the kind of sacrifice made by Officer Kevin Will.
"It is very rare. We reserved Life Saving Awards and especially Medals of Valor for only those special circumstances that meet the highest standards of our conduct," said one HPD officer at the ceremony.
As a side note, police did arrest the driver in this case. He is awaiting his next court hearing on a charge of intoxication manslaughter of a peace officer.
