Denny Wright becomes first RPD officer to receive state’s Police Officer of the Year award

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Rochester Police Officer Denny Wright received the Medal of Valor and the 2019 Governor’s Police Officer of the Year award on Wednesday. He is the first RPD officer to receive the award.

The award was supposed to be given out in 2020 but was postponed during the pandemic. Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado presented the award.

Officer Wright responded to a domestic call on Peck Street in October of 2019 where he was repeatedly stabbed in the face, which blinded him. The man who stabbed him, Keith Williams, was sentenced to at least 40 years in prison for attempted murder and assault on a police officer.

“Finding purpose has been the biggest struggle since this happened to me,” Wright said. “And the purpose that I have found is sharing what happened to me with young officers with veteran officers, talking about what I did after this incident that happened to me.”

On Tuesday, Wright also received the Henry H. Jensen Award from Rochester Rotary. You can Wednesday’s full ceremony here: