Wounded officer, firefighter recognized by Greenville City Council

A Greenville police officer said the public’s safety, not his own, was foremost in his mind after he was shot in the arm during a domestic violence call last month.

Police officer Jeremiah Lovelace was honored by the Greenville City Council during its Monday meeting.

“It’s an honor to pay tribute to you today for a job well done as opposed to a life well lived,” said Mayor Pro Tem Monica Daniels, who stood in for Mayor P.J. Connelly, who was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Lovelace returned to work April 24 after recuperating from the April 2 incident. He said in a later interview with local television stations that he was “awestruck” by outpouring of love and support he and his family received.

“Not many people have a community like this,” he said.

Lovelace, an eight-year veteran of Greenville Police Department, is currently a field training officer and was working with a trainee on April 2 when they were called to Glendale Court Apartments, Greenville City Manager Michael Cowin said.

They met a woman outside an apartment building who reported she had been assaulted by her child’s father. The child and the father were in the apartment, the woman said, and he was armed and had been drinking.

Lovelace called Jonas Michael Fucito and tried to get him come outside, Cowin said, but Fucito hung up.

Lovelace went to the apartment and knocked. On his second attempt, Lovelace was struck by gunfire from a 12-gauge shotgun.

“I will say that at the moment of that shot a prayer chain was started in this community,” Cowin said. “By the grace of God our prayers were answered and you have been able to recover from that shot ... it reminds us every single day of the heroes such as yourself, Officer Lovelace, who protect us selflessly.”

Fucito was arrested after a nearly six-hour standoff with other officers.

Lovelace said his first reaction to the shot was “ow” but it quickly turned to the scene unfolding around him.

“When I saw the neighbors coming out of the house, that was my concern,” Lovelace said in the TV interviews. “They had children, females. That was my concern, getting them to safety. I knew I was fine. I looked at my arm and it was still there and I knew I was going to be OK so my concern then changed to them.”

Lovelace’s actions represent the character of the Greenville Police Department, Cowin said.

He was joined by his wife and three children at Monday’s meeting. Police Chief Ted Sauls said they too were affected by what took place on April 2 so it’s important that the family built inside the police department extends to the officers’ families.

Lovelace wasn’t the only public safety employee recognized Monday.

Greenville Fire-Rescue Capt. Eric Smith, a 25-year veteran, was recognized for administrating CPR during a soccer game in Wilson in early March.

Gina Shoemaker, director of East Carolina University’s Facilities, Engineering and Architectural Services, sent Cowin an email with the subject line, “Thought you should know.”

“When I receive an email that says ‘thought you should know’ usually it’s not anything good,” Cowin said. “So I was scared to open the actual email.”

When he opened it, Shoemaker recounted being at a soccer match with her daughter. Smith, whose daughter also is on the team, was there, too.

“An older man collapsed off the bleachers and appeared to have a heart attack,” Shoemaker wrote. “Eric Smith didn’t hesitate and went to the guy to start chest compressions.”

School staff brought out an automated external defibrillator. Smith used it to defibrillate the heart. He also continued CPR until Wilson paramedics arrived.

“That man should not be here today,” Shoemaker wrote on March 12. “He is only here because of Eric. We all saw him. He was not breathing and he was blue.

“He did a great thing and that player still has a grandpa because of him,” Shoemaker wrote.

“We have over 750 great employees in the City of Greenville and you exemplify that in everything you do,” Cowin said.

Smith showed that saving lives isn’t something he simply does for work, it’s who he is, Daniels said.

“I’ve known Eric for a long time, he’s a good friend of mine. This is him 365 days a year,” Fire-Rescue Chief Brock Davenport said. “There are probably hundreds of times he should be on this stage, being recognized.”