CLEARFIELD – A local police chief is among the nominees for a national contest to honor the best of the best in first responders.
Lawrence Township Police Chief Jeff Fink was nominated to be an America’s Most Wanted All-Star.
The contest, sponsored by Sprint Nextel and the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” honors those in law enforcement and fire and rescue personnel “who go above and beyond to keep our communities safe every day of every year,” according to the Web site.
In Fink’s nomination, his actions of May 18, 2005, were recalled. On that date, Fink responded to a home on Flood Road in Lawrence Township at 6:56 p.m. for a report of a burglary in progress. He arrived and saw a man, later identified as Daryl R. Shaneyfelt, 38, of Altoona, running through a field.
Fink got out of his patrol car, leaving the keys inside, and chased the man.
Shaneyfelt got into Fink’s patrol car and tried to take it. He and Fink struggled, with the man pulling out a knife.
The man got away, but only after nearly backing the car over Fink and hitting him in the head with either the car door or the bumper of the car. The patrol car was found a short distance away from the scene of the struggle, but the vehicle was wrecked.
In the report of the incident, the investigating officer wrote that Fink, then a corporal, said there was no doubt in his mind that Shaneyfelt was trying to kill him.
Shaneyfelt had been in the area after receiving treatment at Discovery House, which was then located in Pike Township.
Shaneyfelt was apprehended after a two-day manhunt.
Fink spent the next months recovering, and Shaneyfelt was sentenced to serve a lengthy state prison sentence, the minimum of which is five years.
A winner is chosen each week in the contest to receive an “America’s Most Wanted” duffle bag filled with “America’s Most Wanted” merchandise. The eight finalists then compete to win $10,000 and a trip to see a Nascar Nextel Cup race.
To vote for Fink, visit this link. For the full site, click here.
Four of the eight finalists have already been chosen for the contest.