Collingswood Officer Who Rescued Missing Elderly Woman Honored

COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — Collingswood Sgt. Bryan DiGugno was one of three police officers who were honored this week after they rescued an elderly woman from Newton Creek.

DiGugno and Haddon Township Officers William Moore and Daniel Jacobi were honored during this week’s Haddon Township Board of Commissioners meeting, the Haddon Township Police Department said in a Facebook post.

The woman had been reported missing out of Haddonfield on May 25, police said. On May 26, the officers went into the murky waters to rescue her.

An Audubon couple spotted her in the lake during an early morning walk, the Courier Post reports. Kent Green, a producer, and Collingswood Library Director Carissa Schanley spotted her while walking their dog at 5:30 a.m. and called 911.

“I saw, essentially, a human head in the water,” Green told NBC 10. “It was almost hard to believe your eyes.”

When they reported she was missing on May 25, Haddonfield police noted, “this is not the first time this has happened and the female is usually located within the local jurisdiction or surrounding towns. She may seem disoriented or confused.”

Police from Haddonfield, Haddon Township, Collingswood and surrounding towns searched through the night before Green and Schanley came across her.

Following the dramatic rescue, the officers were honored this week by Haddon Township Mayor Randall Teague, Public Safety Director James Mulroy and Revenue and Finance Director Ryan Linhart.