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RPD Officer Denny Wright honored after serious injuries suffered during call in 2019

Officer Denny Wright receives the Medal of Valor and Purple Heart from RPD Interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan on 8/5/21
Spectrum News
Officer Denny Wright receives the Medal of Valor and Purple Heart from RPD Interim Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan on 8/5/21

A Rochester police officer seriously injured nearly two years ago while responding to a domestic incident received top honors Thursday.

Dozens of officers, family and friends gathered to honor Denny Wright, as he received the Police Department’s Medal of Valor and Purple Heart, after his response to an incident on Peck Street in October 2019.

Wright responded to a call about family trouble. While Wright responded to the call, Keith Williams, 28, stabbed the officer multiple times, leaving him blind.

Wright said if he could, he would be willing to go back to the house where this all happened to see if he could get a better result, but is just glad to be alive and to still be able to enjoy his family.

“In the front of this building, there is a memorial next to the flagpole. It contains names of officers who died in the line of duty. Because of these people here, these officers and civilians and the hospital, my name is not on that stone," Wright said.

Interim Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan presented the awards to Wright, along with recognition for other officers and civilians in the neighborhoods who were at the scene and also came to the officer’s aid.

“I can’t even talk about it without crying every time, quite frankly, not just for Denny’s courage, and the way he fought to live, but also for the officers who, once they got there, did what they could to help,” Herriott Sullivan said as she reflected on the emotion she and other officers associate with that incident.

Here is video by WXXI News photojournalist Max Schulte of Wright as he walked out of Golisano Neurology Rehabilitation Center at Unity Hospital in Greece in October 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn9N_d7BokI&t=1s

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.