A St. Louis County officer on Tuesday was awarded a police Purple Heart for his actions during a pursuit in January.
Officer Cody Reider was severely injured in January as he chased a suspect who was running from him and another officer after a lengthy vehicle pursuit. As Reider attempted to cuff the man, the suspect pushed them both off the ledge of a 10-foot retaining wall.
Reider landed on his head. He would later find out he had broken his back and neck and suffered a concussion.
On Tuesday, he received the police version of a Purple Heart, an award given to members of the U.S. military who are killed or injured in service.
“All I can say, Cody, is that I can’t believe you’re standing here,” Capt. Pete Morrow said Tuesday at the St. Louis County Police Commissioners meeting. “Those injuries, for most people, I think they would have been done. There’s a lot of mental toughness here, a lot of discipline in your comeback and in your recovery.”
Morrow said Reider was out on Jan. 9 with a detective in West Florissant near Interstate 270 when they spotted a stolen car and tried to stop the vehicle. The car sped away, and they chased it.
“So about three collisions later, the suspect vehicle ended up catching on fire … right around the airport,” Morrow said.
Reider chased the suspect who ran from the car down a “heck of an embankment,” Morrow said. The officer closed the gap between him and the suspect, and then Reider tried to arrest him. But the man pulled him down, and they both fell over the wall.
After they fell, Reider was able to keep the suspect from running while he called for help on the radio despite his injuries.
The man was arrested and booked on a $1 million bond. Morrow said officers found two handguns and fentanyl in the backpack he was carrying.
Several other officers were also honored during Tuesday’s meeting.
Officers Nicholas Ullo and Nathan Potthoff received a chief’s commendation for their work earlier this year on MetroLink trains. In three months, the two arrested 33 people, including two homicide suspects and one carjacking suspect. They also recovered 24 firearms, 12 of which were part of federal prosecution.
Two other officers, Neil French and Quintton Williams, were recognized for their actions in June 2022 when a U.S. postal worker was robbed at gunpoint.
Lifesaving awards went to officers Darnell Wallace and Neil French, who on separate occasions performed CPR on people who would have otherwise died before paramedics could arrive.
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