Six area officers honored as Guardian Angels

American Legion Posts 25 and 58 awarded their version of wings to a half dozen Texarkana-area law enforcement officers Saturday, recognizing the dauntless six as "Guardian Angels."

Each received the Art Candalaria Guardian Angel Law Officer of the Year Award, for municipal, county and state police in the Texarkana area who face danger to keep the public safe. About 11 years ago, the annual awards were named in recognition of Art Candalaria, the former American Legion Post commander who founded the award.

The six officers-three from Arkansas and three from Texas-were honored for their tireless efforts to keep the public safe throughout 2016. They include Arkansas State Police Troop G Sgt. Seth Pinner; Miller County Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Alan Keller; Texarkana, Ark. Police Department Officer Michael Bryan; Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper David Stewart, Bowie County Sheriff's Deputy Westin Fannin; and Texarkana, Texas, Police Department Officer Colten Johnson.

Pinner started working for the ASP in the spring of 2008 after graduating from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. He was first stationed in Lafayette County and later in Columbia County, where he still serves. Pinner has filled many roles within the department, his current positions being firearms instructor, field training officer and SWAT team member.

"Sgt. Pinner is very compassionate and knowledgeable when it applies to making sure new troopers are ready for their endeavors in law enforcement," said former Miller County Sheriff Ron Stovall, who now serves as the Arkansas side's American Legion Post 58 law officer chairman. Stovall presented the Arkansas officers' awards. "There is no finer example of what an Arkansas state trooper should be. Sgt. Pinner has also played numerous intricate roles in some of the state's most recent high-profile SWAT responses."

Stovall said Pinner also spends a lot of time on community events such as Columbia County's Special Olympics events with various public schools in the county. He has also participated in several criminal justice programs at SAU.

Stovall said Keller, who graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy, joined MCSO in February 2002.

Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., Keller grew up in Texarkana, Ark., and now supervises the MCSO's Criminal Investigations Division. He holds a general certificate issued by the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training. With more than 14 years of law enforcement experience, Keller has served the county as K-9 handler and worked on investigations involving the Multi-Jurisdictional Task Force, which works with the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service.

"Sgt. Keller is a loyal employee and is proud of his chosen profession," Stovall said. "He is the first to volunteer to help any officer or agency, and he has saved lives as well as put his own life on the line throughout his career in narcotics investigations."

Keller has worked 205 state and federal narcotics cases from 2010 through last year, "helping to relieve the streets of many drugs and drug dealers," Stovall added.

Bryan, who joined TAPD in July 2014 properly developed, lifted and submitted multiple areas of critical fingerprint evidence last year, Stovall said, which solved multiple felony property crimes-commercial and residential burglaries and breaking and entering.

"Officer Bryan's thorough and conscientious initial investigations provided numerous high-quality fingerprints and valuable information, which allowed detectives and crime-scene investigators to effectively solve many crimes," Stovall said. "This effort also provided the framework to discover the identity of many other criminals. Officer Bryan has also proven himself to be highly proactive in the community he serves on a day-to-day basis."

Pat Smith, commander for the Texas side's American Legion Post 25, delivered the Texas-side awards.

Stewart started working as a DPS trooper Sept. 15, 2006, stationed in Chambers County before being transferred to Cass County in 2008. Since the start of last year, Stewart has removed many drunk drivers from the roadways and maid multiple felony and misdemeanor arrests, Smith said.

Smith credits Stewart with the April 29, 2016, rescue of a woman who was eight months pregnant and trapped in her car by rising floodwaters after heavy rainfall that day. Later that evening, Stewart helped rescue five family members from their flooded home.

He also serves as president of the Cass County Peace Officers' Association.

Smith said Fannin has led the department in self-initiated activity, including traffic stops, arrests and drug interdictions.

"He (Fannin) is a self-motivated peace officer who works tirelessly to curb drug activity and property crime in Bowie County," Smith said. "Deputy Fannin is always willing to help if asked and often offers his assistance without being prompted to. When other police agencies are in need of help, Deputy Fannin offers support without hesitation."

Smith added that Fannin is diligent in his work and often works beyond his normal work hours to help others.

"Because of his interest in the area of drug interdiction, Deputy Fannin has been selected to be the sheriff's office's next K-9 handler," Smith said. "He has also shown courage and bravery in arresting combative suspects in rural areas-often when he's alone."

About Johnson, who's worked for TTPD for more than two years, Smith said the officer's actions have had a direct and positive effect on the community-almost from the start of his employment.

"In his short time with the department, Officer Johnson has proven to be a valuable asset to the department, as well as to his co-workers and the fellow citizens," Smith said. "(His) proactive work is consistently in the top 5 percent of this 40-officer operations division. This has resulted in 200 arrests since Jan. 1 of last year. Twenty-five of those arrests were felony drug arrests, two of them resulted in recovered stolen vehicles and 10 were felony firearms arrests."

Smith cited one example of Johnson's persistence taking place at 1 a.m Aug. 1, 2016, when a resident called 911 to report two men were repeatedly knocking on his front door and looking inside his vehicle. As both suspects fled to nearby woods, Johnson arrived on the scene and stayed nearby in case the two suspects returned-and they did.

"The two men were taken into custody and a search revealed that the two suspects possessed ski-masks, bandanas and flashlights-all common burglary tools," Smith said.