"I remember seeing a fireman down when I first pulled up on scene, I didn't know it was Tomasz, and I thought that he was just laying on the ground kind of covering himself from the shots fired,” Sgt. Hall recalled. “So I thought when I ran up I'd just pat him on the back and say ‘let's get out of here’ and he'd get up and we'd run away. And as soon as I put my hand on him I realized that it wasn't going to happen that way and I realized I couldn't help him and I was in a very bad position to begin with. That is when I retreated back to the vehicle and retrieved my weapon.”
Sgt. Hall is a 15-year veteran of the Webster Police Department having joined the force in 1998, after serving previously in the Town of Manlius outside of Syracuse.
Officer Reed joined the Webster Police Department three years ago according to his chief, and he was named the Webster Police Officer of the Year two years ago.
Chief Gerald Pickering said Reed was nominated again after the events of December 24, 2012.
Reed returned to work on Friday while the mandatory internal investigation into his actions is still ongoing.
Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley publicly cleared Reed of any criminal wrongdoing following the completion of a parallel investigation. That is also standard in cases where a police officer discharges their firearm.
