Good News: South Dakota Troopers Honor Harrison Student

Harrison, New Jersey is over 1500 miles from the headquarters of the South Dakota Highway Patrol.  The distance did not keep the South Dakota Highway Patrol officers from making the trip to honor a resident for his heroic deeds. 

Last September (2021), three members of the South Dakota Highway Patrol scheduled a visit to Harrison as part of their visit to the East Coast, specifically the annual Honor Guard Convention in Delaware. The South Dakota Highway Patrol coordinated with its counterparts, the New Jersey State Police and the Harrison Police Department to award twelve-year-old Harrison resident Oliber Pereyra, the South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent’s Life Saver Award.

The Observer Editor and long-time news reporter, Kevin Canessa, wrote a wonderful description of what could have been a tragic event that turned into a heroic story.  In summary Oliber Pereyra’s family was in South Dakota on vacation.  One would think that a desolate South Dakota highway would be a lot safer than the Garden State Parkway and/or the New Jersey Turnpike. But Oliber’s family managed to have a tire blow out causing their SUV to end up in a lake on the side of the highway.  Oliber managed to keep calm and take the necessary steps to get all of his family members out of their SUV before the SUV sank into the lake.  Kevin Canessa does a great job describing the heroic deeds in his article “Harrison boy recognized by South Dakota Highway Patrol for saving family after crash”.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol made the presentation of the award in the presence of New Jersey State Troopers (the equivalent of the South Dakota Highway Patrol) and the Harrison Police Officers.

Oliber Pereyra’s actions truly merited the South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent’s Life Saver Award.  It is very nice that the South Dakota Highway Patrol members had the forethought to make a pit stop in Harrison to personally present the award.  Thank you to the New Jersey State Police and the Harrison Police officers for facilitating the presentation of the award.  Thank you also to Kevin Canessa for capturing in words what Oliver Pereyra managed to do that led to the Award.  We are sure that the South Dakota Highway Patrol officers who pulled up to the accident scene were glad to see the Oliber’s family on the side of the road.  The SUV can be replaced.

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