Officers hailed for besting the call of duty

According to police reports at the time, Keith Luke had earlier raped and shot two Cape Verdean sisters, killing the younger one, and then gunned down a homeless man. Police were scrambling to apprehend him.

Brockton police Officer William Devine was in his cruiser and tried to stop traffic as Luke raced through, allegedly firing at the officer. As Luke speeded on, Officer James Cronshaw, who was on foot, also tried to stop traffic before exchanging gunfire with him, according to the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Moments later, Luke crashed and was arrested. He is now awaiting trial on charges that include first-degree murder.

Cronshaw and Devine were among 37 Massachusetts law enforcement officials honored at the State House yesterday with the Trooper George L. Hanna Jr. Memorial Award for Bravery, given for actions above and beyond the call of duty. Governor Deval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray presented the awards to 32 local police and five state troopers.

Cronshaw and Devine received the Medal of Valor.

“Each recipient deserves more than a medal to commemorate the courageous acts they perform in the course of duty every day,’’ Mary Beth Heffernan, the Massachusetts public safety secretary who led the ceremony, said in a statement. “But know that when we present these symbols of our esteemed appreciation, it comes with the full weight of the Commonwealth for what these men and women have done and what they will do to protect and serve our citizens.’’

The award is named after State Trooper George L. Hanna Jr., a 10-year veteran who was killed in 1983 during a traffic stop in Auburn.

Other Medal of Valor recipients included State Police Detective Lieutenant Stephen O’Reilly, New Bedford police Sergeant Paul Demers, and New Bedford police Detective Shane Reul. They arrested a man after he allegedly killed his mother and his former girlfriend in New Bedford, kidnapped the 12-year-old daughter of his former girlfriend, and barricaded himself and the girl inside her apartment in January 2009.

Milton police Officers Eric Choi, Brendan Douglas, Valter Pires, and Joseph Fahey — who shot and killed a man who had stabbed two of his sisters to death and who was attacking his remaining sister in the family home in March 2009 — each received a Medal of Honor for their efforts in saving the girl’s life.

L. Finch can be reached at lfinch@globe.com.