Somers Correction Officer Honored at National Level

In July, Correction Officer Michael Whitehead got the surprise of his life.

He was summoned to the Department of Correction’s home office in Wethersfield and was a bit nervous about it – it isn’t normally a good thing when you have to go there.

“I’m figuring I’m getting in trouble or something,” he said. “It’s human nature, you think the worst – you think you’re getting disciplined or whatever.”

What was really going on was that Whitehead was being honored as the national Correction Officer of the Year by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

After waiting around for a while, Whitehead was brought outside and that’s when he realized that he was the honored guest.

“I was blown away,” he said. “I was totally surprised, totally shocked. It was like everybody knew but me. I was so surprised.”

Whitehead, 29, is being honored for his actions in December 2009 when an inmate with an extensive history of staff assault exited his cell and violently attacked Correction Officer Peter Kuhlmann. The inmate was armed with a makeshift weapon, tipped with a razor blade, which he used to slash across Kuhlmann’s neck.  

Whitehead, who had only been on the job a couple months, jumped in and secured the inmate, preventing further injury to Kuhlmann.

“When stuff happens, you just try to do as much as you can,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen and when it happens, it happens in the blink of an eye. You don’t have to do everything, but as long as you do something, that’s more than a lot of other people would maybe do. You try to prepare yourself and you can train, but you never know how you’re going to react when you’re in that situation. I’m grateful that I did what I did and responded and could help out a fellow officer in a time of need.”

This is the second award Whitehead has received in regards to this incident, as he was honored with the department’s in December 2010.

Whitehead said that this is the biggest award he has received in his life and isn’t used to this kind of attention.

“I’m trying to be humble with the whole thing and not try to let it go to my head like some people would do,” he said. “I’m trying to stay humble and I’m trying to do my thing the way I do it day in and day out and not stray from how I work. It’s great. It blew me away, I was totally speechless.”

He added that it was one of those things you don’t expect this early in a career – he celebrated his two-year anniversary in August.

“To get this now, it’s amazing,” he said. “I’m extremely honored and grateful. It’s one of those jobs where you don’t get recognized a lot for the things you do. It’s nice that people get recognized for the things they do.”

According to Mike Marette, the Assistant Director of Corrections for AFSCME, the nomination process for the award began last September. Approximately 60 nominations were received from across the country and the committee finalized the decision in February.

Kuhlmann said that he highly agreed when the union approached him and asked if it was alright to nominate Whitehead.

“I can't say enough good things about him,” he said. “He was brand new to an incredibly dangerous job. We had never met or spoken to each other before that evening and he saved my life. There is no training that can prepare someone for this type of incident however there is something that is built into a human being, fight or flight. Some people run, and some people stick in there for the fight. You never know until your faced with a situation like this. Fortunately for me, Michael is a warrior.”

Whitehead will be officially presented with the award later this month at AFSCME’s biannual conference in Houston, TX. Kuhlmann will be attending the conference with Whitehead.

In April, , 58, the inmate who attacked Kuhlmann, pled guilty and will be receiving 15 years consecutive to his current sentence.