Wednesday night was one that called for dress shoes topped with a mirror shine.

On the morning of May 15, after receiving the one call police officers never want to get — a child abduction call with no suspect and no direction of travel — they not only did their job, but they did it exceedingly well in rescuing two small children.

Then on Wednesday night, Hoquiam Police Chief Joe Strong honored Aberdeen Police Sgt. Gary Sexton with an award to note his stellar work on that day that saved two little girls — an 18-month-old and a 6-year-old. Strong said to the Aberdeen City Council that Wednesday was a “pretty special day,” because he and Aberdeen Police Chief Dale Green got to recognize Sexton’s heroism.

Strong referred to this type of call as “probably one of the most feared calls an officer can get.” The only information police had was it was a gold minivan and there were two children inside. That’s when police started their response toward Hoquiam, Strong said. Strong also commended HPD Lt. Jeff Salstrom and HPD Detective Breaunna Simpson, who were at the scene for any critical information.

“Because of the teamwork we saw that day,” Strong said about the multiagency effort needed, “we don’t have to answer the difficult questions like who, where, or why.”

Then Strong praised Sexton’s actions.

“Great cops seem to always be in the right area during a crisis,” Strong said behind the lectern inside the council chambers. “You were at the Sunshine Deli within one-and-a-half minutes of the broadcast, moments behind Cosmopolis (Police) Chief Heath Layman. As Chief Layman secured the children inside the stolen vehicle, you focused your attention on the suspect, who was running from the scene across Perry Street. You were the one who engaged in the foot pursuit, keeping the fleeing suspect in your sight and eventually taking him into custody.”

The two girls were inside their mother’s van in the 2700 block of Pacific Avenue when Anthony Dennis Hurley, 34, of Aberdeen, stole the van from the mother’s “co-parent’s” residential driveway. Hurley drove about 3.5 miles over to Sunshine Deli in South Aberdeen, seemingly to fill up on gas. On Monday night when the two civilians, Jeffery Alderton II and Robert Olson, were honored for their actions that led to the rescue, the mother said the van’s gas gauge was “on empty.”

The call from emergency dispatch about the vehicle theft came in at about 8:38 a.m. Within two minutes, police had the van’s license plate number and a description of the two girls.

“You ensured all available on-duty units responded to the area,” Strong said to Sexton. “Your awareness to have this many units in the field available to quickly respond is paramount during the first minutes of such an emergent situation.”

Strong described Sexton’s organized response of his team and Sexton’s “personal, quick response” to the scene were “instrumental” to the children’s safe return and the arrest of the “dangerous suspect.” Hurley faces one charge of kidnapping in the second degree and one charge of taking a motor vehicle without permission in the second degree. He’s being held on $100,000 cash or surety bond at Grays Harbor County Jail, according to the jail roster.

Strong left the city council with this:

“Aberdeen, he’s a true asset to all of our communities,” Strong said. “Thank you so much.”

Then, Sexton took the lectern.

“I accept this, thank you Chief Strong, mayor, council, citizens,” Sexton said. “I would say this is me doing my job. And a lot of officers would say that. And there are a lot of officers engaging in a lot of foot pursuits across the country, probably tonight at this very minute as we speak and across our city. Sometimes it’s a daily occurrence. Sometimes, multiple times in a day. It’s just this incident stands out. When kids are involved, those things stand out. While I am most grateful for being honored, this is part of our job that we signed up to do. And this did have a good outcome. It wasn’t necessarily what I did. This was a team event.”

Sexton, as Strong did earlier in his remarks, then championed the team effort involved to reach the positive outcome.

“When we have media and citizens and police all working together, this is the type of stuff we can accomplish, right?” Sexton said. “This is how it should be done. And in this situation, it worked out fabulously. So I thank you for this and hopefully we don’t have to do this again, right? And I just thank you for the time.”

Aberdeen Mayor Pete Schave was the first person to comment after Sexton spoke.

“Thank you Officer Sexton,” Schave said about Sexton, who’s worked for APD for the past 22 years. “We appreciate you and all our police officers, as well as our explorers who are here and potential future police officers, we hope.”

Aberdeen Police Cmdr. Steve Timmons said APD is “truly fortunate” to have Sexton.

“We appreciate Sgt. Sexton’s commitment to his duties as a police officer,” Timmons said Thursday. “Sgt. Sexton is very compassionate and committed to his profession. This was a very scary situation and call to hear come out. His immediate response and actions helped save these children and put the suspect in jail. Sgt. Sexton is an asset to the Aberdeen Police Department and the citizens we serve.”

Aberdeen City Councilor Dee Anne Shaw lauded the words Strong read in Sexton’s commendation and called it a “beautiful letter.”

Aberdeen City Councilor David Lawrence shared his thoughts about Sexton’s work and the work of the other police involved in the children’s safe recovery.

“That day I saw the police were just flying by my house with the lights and sirens going and thought ‘something’s going on,’” Lawrence said. “I turned on the scanner. I mean, it was just minutes and they got him. I was impressed. Good police work. Good citizen response. It was fantastic. And he’s a humble man.”

Aberdeen City Councilor Liz Ellis also responded about the multiagency response.

“That was just a tremendous response and a wonderful partnership between the three cities — Cosi responded too,” Ellis said. “It just shows the dedication and ability of our officers. We have a lot of really good people. It was an honor to recognize him tonight.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.