2003 Award for Valor

Security & Safety Officer Troy Steinmetz, Kenyon College

In April 2002, Officer Troy Steinmetz was preparing to get off duty when a call came into the telecommunications center at 23:45 hours from a local resident complaining about excessive noise by some of the Kenyon College students. The students were in an area known as College Park . It is a remote area near the Kokosing River owned by the college. The caller lived in a mobile home behind College Park .

When 3 unarmed security officers arrived, two students were walking toward the security vehicle with their hands behind their heads. One of the officers spotted the resident that had made the call with a firearm.

Officer Steinmetz having had previous dealings with the subject approached him and began talking him into putting the firearm down and going back home. Officer Steinmetz said that stood close enough to the subject that he could grab the weapon should the subject raise it from the low ready position. Officer Steinmetz is well-trained in martial arts. Officers from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene shortly after the suspect left.

The investigation revealed that the male suspect had called the security office and then before officers could get to the scene, he took a firearm onto the college property firing one shot into the air and telling the students if they moved he would “blow their heads off.” A spent shell matching the weapon was found at the scene. The subject is charged with aggravated menacing and the case is pending in the Mount Vernon Municipal Court.