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NJ BlueNOW Stages 'Evening With Sheriff Clarke,' Valor Awards In Wood-Ridge

WOOD-RIDGE, N.J. -- Area law enforcement officers will gather at the Fiesta in Wood-Ridge on Monday for a sold-out evening with Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., the cowboy hat-wearing Fox News contributor who has blasted members of the Black Lives Matter movement for their claims about police brutality.

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.,

Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.,

Photo Credit: COURTESY: NJ BlueNOW
Sofya with Mahwah Police Officer Tom Solimano, Lt. Jeffrey Dino, Sgt. Brendan Mullin

Sofya with Mahwah Police Officer Tom Solimano, Lt. Jeffrey Dino, Sgt. Brendan Mullin

Photo Credit: Joshua Jongsma
Michael Keane with his fiance, Courtney Keegan

Michael Keane with his fiance, Courtney Keegan

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Michael Keane
Kris "Tanto" Paranto

Kris "Tanto" Paranto

Photo Credit: COURTESY: Judy Landreth Wilkinson

Honors will be given during the NJ BlueNOW event to a trio of Mahwah police officers who caught a 9-year-old girl who jumped three stories in a raging condo fire last month and a Lyndhurst officer who saved several passengers after a train derailed last spring.

Receiving an Award of Honor will be Army Ranger Kris "Tanto" Paranto, who was part of a CIA security team that rescued dozens of people during terroristic attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 -- a heroic mission recounted in the book and film "13 Hours."

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, of Franklin Lakes, will present the awards.

Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, has championed the efforts of law enforcement and black conservatives to denounce the Black Lives Matter movement, comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan and calling members "a bunch of thugs, creeps, criminals [and] race-hustlers".

Clarke also said last week that President Obama's "reign of terror" has damaged race relations in the U.S.

Last month, Daily Voice captured the only photo of Mahwah Police Lt. Jeffrey Dino, Sgt. Brendan Mullin, Officer Tom Solimano and little Sofya Doroshenko at the Society Hill condominium complex shortly after they caught her. READ MORE....

The officers' "immediate actions exemplify the risks law enforcement officers take to selflessly protect others without regard for personal safety and to save the lives of others," NJ Blue's Meritorious Service Award says.

Lyndhurst Police Officer Michael Keane and his fiancee were returning from a Police Unity Bike tour in Washington, D.C. when the Amtrak No. 188 train derailed last May in Philadelphia. The nation’s deadliest train accident in years killed eight and injured more than 200.

After ensuring his fiancee was safe, Keane went back in to help other passengers escape. His actions "exemplify the risks law enforcement officers take to selflessly protect others without regard for personal safety," a Meritorious Service Award says.

Army Ranger Brian Mast will receive a Medal of Valor "for extraordinary heroism while engaged in combat action (Operation Dragon Strike) against hostile enemy forces on September 19, 2010, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

"When Ranger Mast was close to the enemy target, he halted his men to search the ground for tripwires, batteries or signs of disturbed earth and was struck by an IED. Had it not been for Ranger Mast’s heroic action, his troops would have sustained grave injury or death."

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