Colin Taylor

On March 12th, 2016 at approximately 11:00 pm, Andy Frain Security Officer Colin Taylor was the lone security officer on duty in a shopping mall.  The only other person onsite was a member of the janitorial crew with whom Officer Taylor was in occasional communication by two-way radio.  While on routine patrol in a service corridor, Officer Taylor observed the back door of a restaurant propped open with a small shoe. Officer Taylor turned on his flashlight and pushed open the door to investigate, where he encountered two subjects, a male and female, who were attempting to load the restaurant’s safe onto a dolly. When the subjects saw Officer Taylor, they both ran aggressively toward him and he deployed his OC Stream in an attempt to fend off the attack.  However, his attackers were undeterred and pushed him violently up against a wall, disconnecting his radio and preventing him from summoning help.  The male attacker then instructed the female to run and he began striking Officer Taylor in the head with a cat claw-type pry bar, hitting him three consecutive times before Officer Taylor could defend himself.  Despite being seriously wounded and bleeding heavily, Officer Taylor relied upon his training and engaged the male attacker with close-quarters control tactics; losing his department issued cell-phone in the process.  Seriously wounded and alone, Officer Taylor managed to temporarily subdue his attacker and retrieve his personal cell phone from his pocket and call 911.  Although the police arrived at the shopping mall quickly, they were unable to initially get inside and, once inside, had difficulty locating Officer Taylor who was in the back of the restaurant off a service corridor; leaving Officer Taylor to fend for himself for approximately 20 minutes. During this time, the attacker continued to struggle violently with Officer Taylor who, despite his serious wounds and loss of blood, managed to control him until the police arrived and arrested his attacker.  His professionalism and courage saved the restaurant’s money and resulted in the arrest of his attacker.