West Fargo Police Department Officers Become Department’s First-ever Medal of Valor Recipients

During the West Fargo Police Department’s annual awards banquet April 9, 2019, patrol Officers David Todd and Brock Ackerman became the first officers in the history of the department to receive the Medal of Valor, which is awarded to sworn officers who distinguish themselves by an act above and beyond the call of duty involving substantial risk to their live.

Todd and Ackerman were given the award for their heroic actions responding to a fire. Upon arrival to an apartment fire in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, 2019, Todd was immediately notified by neighbors that someone had been screaming in the apartment that was on fire with a large amount of smoke. Todd felt the door handle of the apartment and noticing the handle was not hot and not seeing any visible flames, he began kicking the door in to gain entry to the unit. Once the door was open, heavy smoke billowed from inside of the apartment.

Todd yelled to Ackerman that there may be someone inside. Without any hesitation, and putting both of their lives at risk, Officers Todd and Ackerman entered the apartment. Both officers called out to the resident inside and did not receive a response. Due to the lack of visibility with the smoke, both officers crawled approximately 15 feet into the apartment and located the individual. Officers Todd and Ackerman grabbed the victim and began pulling him to the door. At the door, Officer Matthew Oldham assisted in getting them out of the apartment. The victim was carried to a safe location and CPR was performed on the victim by the officers. A pulse was regained, and the victim was transported to a hospital. Unfortunately, the victim died days later at the hospital.

Officer Matthew Oldham was awarded a Commendable Service Award for his actions.

Officer Brock Ackerman

Ackerman, of Montevideo, Minnesota, attended the University of Sioux Falls on an athletic scholarship from 2009 to 2011 and finished his criminal justice bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University in 2013. He completed Alexandria Technical and Community College’s police skills training program in 2014. Ackerman worked for Solutions Behavioral Healthcare from 2011 to 2014 and Yellow Medicine Jail in 2014 before joining the West Fargo Police Department in April 2015 as a patrol officer.

In addition to his patrol duties, Ackerman is on the bike patrol, a defensive tactics instructor, the star of “Brock’s Bits” and the newest K9 officer. He has also been a TASER instructor and the K9 decoy.

He was awarded the Commendable Service Award in 2016 and Employee of the Quarter for the third quarter in 2018.

Officer David Todd

Todd grew up in Walcott, North Dakota, attended North Dakota State University and graduated from Lake Region State College’s peace officer training program in Fargo. Todd has been a member of the United States Marine Corps since 2011 and is currently active as a Military Police Reserve. Before being hired by West Fargo Police Department as a patrol officer in January 2017, he was the shift supervisor at the John E. Carlson Coliseum. He is the son of Fargo Police Department Chief David Todd. 

Article Provided by City of West Fargo.