Sachem alum and NYPD Officer Justin Vartanian was honored with the department’s Combat Cross during a ceremony this week.
The Combat Cross is the second highest honor presented in the New York City Police Department.
The Police Combat Cross is awarded to police officers who, “having received Honorable Mention awards, successfully and intelligently perform an act of extraordinary heroism while engaged in personal combat with an armed adversary under circumstances of imminent personal hazard to life.”
Vartanian, who graduated from Sachem in 2002, had made news in 2019 when he was shot in a gunfight with a suspect in Washington Heights.
He is a member of the 34th Precinct’s Anti-Crime Unit.