Philip Bevacqua, 85, of Totowa, N.J., died May 17, 2015. Awarded the Carnegie Medal at age 77 in 2008, Bevacqua was a police captain for the Paterson, N.J., Police Department, having worked there for 26 years before retiring in 1988. On July 16, 2007, Bevacqua was at home, on his back deck, when a police officer stopped a hit-and-run driver outside his house. The driver produced a gun and shot the officer twice, and then he struggled against the officer to take the officer’s gun. The men were fighting in the middle of the street as Bevacqua, alerted by the gunfire, approached. Later stating that his instincts took over, Bevacqua ran to the assailant and punched him repeatedly in the face, allowing the officer to recover and control the situation.
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