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# West Virginia Guard member awarded Soldier's Medal for assisting deputy

By Sgt. Sara YokeWest Virginia National Guard

CAMP DAWSON, W.Va. - Staff Sgt. Shawn Riley, a W.Va. Army National Guard Soldier, was awarded the Soldier's Medal - the Army's highest award for valor in a non-combat situation involving personal danger and voluntary risk of life - on Jan. 11, 2015.

Nine minutes into a turbulent and violent fight in the roadway with an unstable man, Preston County Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Mitter was exhausted and running out of options. 

"No matter how hard I fought, I couldn't gain ground," he stated.

Staff Sgt. Shawn Riley was on his way home from work at Camp Dawson that August evening in 2011 when he came upon the scene - a man only in his underwear coming after the deputy with a weed eater and acting erratically. Riley immediately stopped his vehicle, identified himself to Mitter as a Soldier, and did not hesitate to help the deputy contain the disturbed man. By the time he got to them, they were in a scuffle on the ground.

A young boy sat in the vehicle the man had been driving before he attacked the deputy. During the dramatic and fierce encounter, the man had fought him, came after him with a weed eater, and reached for the officer'spistol. Mitter had shot him with the taser gun, but it did not faze the man.

"My next option, well, it was to shoot him," Mitter said. "He had reached for my pistol and would not stop."

Riley's intervention helped save Mitter from resulting to that decision and helped him successfully end the attack. 

"I helped him control the man and get him to the ground, we made eye contact, and he was able to handcuff him," Riley said. "When I came upon the scene on my way home, I didn't really think of anything, I just reacted. I just got back from Iraq a year prior to that, and my military training just kicked in."

"I don't doubt that he helped save my life, too. I don't know how it would have ended," Mitter said.

In a ceremony attended by Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group, WVARNG state leadership, and other fellow Guard members, Riley was applauded for his actions and presented the Soldier's Medal.

"I always talk about the importance of the Guard in the community," Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, the adjutant general of the WVARNG, said. "Staff Sgt. Riley is the epitome of that importance. Without question, he is deserving of our recognition for intervening that day and helping to end a bad situation that could have had tragic circumstances."

The Soldier's Medal is awarded to any person of the Armed Forces who, while serving in any capacity with the Army, distinguished themselves by heroism. The act must have involved personal hazard or danger and the voluntary risk of life under conditions not involving conflict with an armed enemy. It requires the same level of valor of the Distinguished Service Cross, had the situation involved combat.

"I don't think I'm special. I wasn't even aware of what the Soldier's Medal meant. I'm not sure I am as deserving as some," Riley said. "Officers like the deputy put their lives on the line everyday. Anyone I serve with in uniform would have done the same thing if they came across the situation, I think."

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