Correia named Aloha Exchange Club Officer of the Month for September

Officer Cody Correia, who has been with the Hawai‘i Police Department for two and a half years, was recently honored by the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawai‘i for his proactive work in two investigations.

Correia, who is assigned to the Puna District, was named the club’s Officer of the Month for September during a ceremony on Oct. 27 in Hilo. This is his first nomination for the award.

“Officer Correia has proven himself as a dedicated and reliable officer respected by his peers,” the Police Department said in a news release.

The first investigation for which Correia was honored involved a Sept. 17 incident in the Mountain View area. Correia was the first to arrive at the scene of an active domestic dispute. In the course of gathering information, he learned the victim’s ex-boyfriend threatened her and her family and was riding a motorcycle with a firearm in his backpack.

While speaking to the victim, Correia saw a motorcycle driven by the suspect pull up to the area. The man was wearing a backpack that matched the victim’s description and was highly confrontational. About the same time, additional officers arrived on scene.

Correia acted quickly and decisively and the suspect was arrested. The Area I Juvenile Aid Section assisted with the investigation by drafting and executing a search warrant on the suspect’s backpack. The suspect was charged with carrying or possessing a loaded firearm on a public highway and place to keep ammunition. The firearm was recovered and taken off the street.

Later that month, Correia once again acted quickly, this time applying a tourniquet to a gunshot victim that helped save the victim’s life.

Correia responded Sept. 26 in the Mountain View area to a report of an unknown disturbance in which a man reported being shot in the face. Responding with another officer, Correia noticed that the victim, a 42-year-old man, was bleeding heavily from his left forearm and face.

With little time to think and relying on his training and experience, Correia quickly applied lifesaving measures and was able to stop the bleeding on the man’s arm by using his department-issued tourniquet. The victim was transported to Hilo Medical Center for further medical attention.

It was later determined that the gunshot hit a main artery in the victim’s forearm, and a follow-up with a nurse from Hilo Medical Center revealed that the injury sustained by the victim would have potentially been fatal had Correia not applied the tourniquet.

The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawai‘i each month honors a police officer in East Hawai‘i as its Officer of the Month. Officers are nominated by their supervisors from the police districts in Area I, including Hāmākua, North Hilo, South Hilo and Puna, and a winner is selected.

All officers chosen as Officer of the Month are eligible to be picked as the club’s Officer of the Year.