Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Cortani, who has received several awards for heroism, has been named officer of the month by the television show “Washington’s Most Wanted.”
The 42-year-old Forks-based deputy arrested Scott Lincoln Davis after he was wounded in a shootout with Davis in January 2009.
“Washington’s Most Wanted,” hosted by Q13 FOX News anchor David Rose, airs Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on MyQ2 (KMYQ-TV, Channel 22, Cable 10) and Fridays and Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. on Q13 FOX, Channel 13.
Myrle Carner, “Washington’s Most Wanted” police liaison and director of Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound, presented Cortani with a gift card for dinner at McCormick & Schmick’s and a certificate of achievement on Jan. 15.
Cortani received a medallion and a framed certificate later that day as the 2009 Washington Council of Police and Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year during the winter meeting of the group in Olympia.
The board of that group, which is made up of about 110 law enforcement agencies statewide, said he was selected in December “because of his outstanding performance of duty, professional judgment and incredible courage.”
National award
Cortani received the National Sheriff’s Association Medal of Valor and Purple Heart in May.
The deputy was shot in the arm and hip while investigating a trespassing complaint at a cabin near Milepost 7 on state Highway 112 near Sekiu. Cortani hit Davis in the stomach and left arm.
He held Davis at gunpoint until backup assistance arrived.
Both men were treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Davis, 60, is scheduled to go to trial May 3 in Clallam County Superior Court on charges of first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.
Davis is being held on $500,000 bail at the Clallam County jail.
