Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant William Plackner has been recognized with the national “Hit of the Month”award from Stop Stick, a distinction given to just one law enforcement officer in the country each month for the successful use of a Stop Stick tire-deflation device to safely end a vehicle pursuit.
With this honor, Sgt. Plackner is now automatically in the running for the organization’s “Hit of the Year” award, which will be announced in early 2026.
The award stems from an incident on September 25, when Sgt. Plackner deployed stop sticks during a pursuit connected to a statewide AMBER Alert. The suspect was spotted in Salida and led officers on a chase that concluded on Highway 285, just south of the U.S. 291 intersection. The child involved in the alert was safely rescued.
A video of the stop stick deployment is available on the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
