Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran was honored by the Indiana chapter of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Friday for his service to the city while dealing with challenges from a liver transplant and cancer. Cochran was nominated by Franklin Police Deputy Chief Scott Summers, right, in November.
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Two local police officers were honored for their service to their communities while dealing with serious illnesses and injuries.
Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran and Edinburgh Police Deputy Chief Hector Mercado were honored by the Theodore Roosevelt Association during separate ceremonies Friday for rendering “outstanding and praiseworthy service” to their departments and communities while dealing with serious illnesses and injuries. Both Cochran and Mercado were selected as recipients of the organization’s 2021 Indiana Police Recognitions last month, and received inscribed busts of Theodore Roosevelt, an awards bar pin and an honorarium of $150, said David Owens, president of the Indiana chapter of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.
Edinburgh Police Chief Doyne Little nominated Mercado after an incident in July 2020, during which Mercado was inured in a high-speed motorcycle crash. Mercado, who had just joined the department as deputy chief and lead training officer a few months earlier, had provided training to several officers and was heading home when a fox ran out in front of his motorcycle. He was unable to avoid the fox and crashed, breaking his leg, Little said.
“We teach our officers to stay in the fight. While it wasn’t an injury that happened at work, he chose to stay in the fight,” Little said. “He hit a fox … and he was still able to stop the bike, keep it balanced with one leg, put the kickstand down, crawl into the grass and call 911 while being calm.”
Doctors had told Mercado it would take him a full year to recover, but he had beat all odds and came back to work in six weeks, when he was originally placed on desk duty. In November, after only four months of recovery, Mercado returned to full duty, according to the Indiana Chapter of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.
Little is incredibly proud of Mercado and the effort he put to come back to work, he said.
“He’s my deputy chief and he’s doing exactly what his job is by leading by example. In the midst of all (the recovery), he even proposed to his wife,” Little said.
Franklin Police Deputy Chief Scott Summers nominated Cochran after Summers told the association of Cochran’s cancer challenges and liver transplant. Summers told the association about the chief’s leadership of the department’s annual toy drive, focus on community partnerships and use of a community policing model.
“Chief Cochran is truly an excellent leader and an inspiration,” Summers told the association.
The organization’s Indiana chapter is made up of about 50 members, the goal of which is to extend the legacy of Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. This year, the chapter has been focusing on police, Owens said.
Since 2012, the chapter has recognized three other law enforcement officials, most recently in 2017, he said.
