Officer of the Year 1996
Corporal Regina Bonny
Midwest City Police Department, OK Corporal Regina Bonny, an undercover officer assigned to assist the D.E.A., was sitting at her desk completing a report on the 9th floor of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building during the early morning hours on April 19, 1995. At 9:02 a.m., a bomb blast from a terrorist's vehicle on the street virtually destroyed the building, the force sending her out of her chair, across the room and into a file cabinet where she suffered multiple injuries.
Crawling out from the rubble and debris - and disregarding her own injuries and risk of further injury or even death - Cpl. Bonny began looking for other injured officers and citizens where she had been working. Cpl. Bonny heard screams for help coming from a large hole where the main offices had been, and she was able to locate and rescue several federal agents. After administering first aid, Cpl. Bonny guided survivors out of the building to safety.
Corporal Bonny then re-entered the building. During her second search, she located more injured officers and employees. Despite a second bomb threat, she stayed to look for more survivors. Cpl. Bonny and those she rescued were the only survivors from the offices shared by the D.E.A. and A.T.F. One agent and four other clerical support staff were killed.
Corporal Regina Bonny's efforts in the aftermath of the terrorist bomb attack in Oklahoma City were above and beyond the call of duty as she put her own life on the line to save others. The A.T.F. agents would testify to the fact that had it not been for the gallant and heroic efforts of Cpl. Bonny, their names would also have been included in the already too long list of Americans who lost their lives that day, in what turned out to be the greatest single loss of life of federal police in American history.
Previous Officers of the Year:
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