Recognized for going beyond call
Two Putnam County sheriff’s deputies were honored on Sept. 9 with the National Sheriff’s Association Purple Heart after they were injured while on the job.
Deputy Benjamin Levine was stabbed in the arm in January when responding to a domestic incident in Putnam Valley. The wound, which severed an artery, required two surgeries to repair.
Investigator Ryan McMahon was struck by a vehicle last year. He is expected to return to work in October.
They were the first two Putnam officers to receive the Purple Heart, said Sheriff Robert Langley Jr.
Levine and Deputy Kevin Osika also were awarded the Liberty Medal by state Sen. Pete Harckham. In July 2019, Levine saved a man who appeared ready to jump from the Bear Mountain Bridge, while in May 2019, Osika pulled a despondent man off the edge of the Veterans Memorial Bridge over Interstate 84 in Brewster.
McMahon, Levine and Osika also received the National Sheriff’s Association Medal of Valor for bravery.
“This is the finest group of officers I have ever worked with,” Langley said in a statement.
