A Niagara County Sheriff's Deputy is getting high praise from New York State. Deputy Joe Tortorella was named the New York State Deputy of the Year for 2015.
Tortorella was involved in a shootout with a gunman who shot his parents in Wheatfield in spring of 2015. The deputy was shot in the chest and saved by his bulletproof vest during an exchange of with Duane Bores Junior. Bores Junior eventually turned the gun on himself.
During the shootout Tortorella managed to put the Errick Road Elementary School on lockdown which was just feet away from the shooting.
Deputy Tortorella is married, 43-years old, and the father of a son and two daughters.
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