St. Mary’s College of Maryland Public Safety Officer Lori Brasko has been selected by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) to receive the 2016 IACLEA Award for Valor. Officer Brasko will be recognized at this year’s annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday, June 25, 2016. She was nominated by Tressa Setlak, director of public safety at St. Mary’s College.
This prestigious award follows two other recent recognitions for Officer Brasko. On May 10, she was an Officer of the Year award recipient at the 16th Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Day sponsored by the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County, the Department of Aging & Human Services, and Triad/SALT. One week later, on May 18, Officer Brasko was honored by the Optimists International of St. Mary’s County, Md. at its Respect for Law award program.
On December 6, 2015, at 12:54 am, Officer Brasko was patrolling the St. Mary’s College of Maryland campus in a vehicle on Mattapany Road when she observed a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed, swerve then strike a tree. She immediately turned around and proceeded to the accident scene. Officer Brasko found the driver in the vehicle conscious but unable to exit the vehicle. The vehicle began to fill with smoke and Officer Brasko noticed that the dashboard on the driver’s side was on fire. She worked to free the driver from the vehicle and pulled him a safe distance away; minutes later the vehicle was completely engulfed in flames. For this reason, Officer Brasko is credited with saving the driver’s life by her selfless actions.