Officer Quits Post With Police Group in Flap Over Medal

Citing his organization’s failure to award slain Sheriff’s Deputy Peter John Aguirre Jr. a Medal of Valor, Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Colon has resigned as a director of the Peace Officers Assn. of Ventura County.

Colon, who supervised Aguirre and nominated him for the Medal of Valor, said Saturday that the decision by the association to present Aguirre’s family with a Distinguished Service Medal instead is a mistake that “cuts to the core of what this association is all about.”

“He earned the Medal of Valor,” Colon said. “He paid for it with his life.”

The 26-year-old Aguirre, a rookie deputy and father of a young daughter, was killed July 17, 1996, while investigating a disturbance between a woman and her estranged husband in Meiners Oaks.

According to authorities, Aguirre was shot by Michael Johnson, the estranged husband, who is awaiting trial on murder charges. The Distinguished Service Medal was presented to Aguirre’s family during the association’s annual awards ceremony April 5. The family has since returned the medal in protest.

After criticism by Sheriff Larry Carpenter as well as Aguirre’s family, the board of directors of the peace officers group on Friday released a statement calling Aguirre a hero. However, directors stood by their earlier decision, which said that Aguirre did not meet the criteria for the Medal of Valor.

After complaints over the medal began, the police group said that the Distinguished Service Medal will be awarded to anyone killed in the line of duty and is the group’s highest honor.

But Colon, a former New York City police officer and 15-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, said Aguirre deserved the Medal of Valor. “This oversight, which happened by mistake, should have been corrected,” he said.

Colon who has twice served as association president since he joined in 1984, said, “I cannot be a part of the association if we do not accept our responsibility.” “Peter was an honorable man, and I want to see the honorable thing done,” he said.