America's Most Wanted All-Star Award Finalists Announced

Television’s top crime-fighting show, America's Most Wanted, asked Americans to help give special recognition to the police, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders who are dedicated to protecting us by nominating their favorite hero for the AMW All-Star Award. The public responded by submitting the names of hundreds of brave men and women. Through online voting, Americans selected eight weekly finalists. Now, the public is voting to choose the Grand Prize Winner: the 2010 AMW All-Star.

Voting in the sixth annual AMW All-Star Contest, sponsored by Sprint, is simple, and members of the public may vote once a day, every day, at the America's Most Wanted website, www.amw.com, or by text message from your Sprint phone (details on how to vote by text message are available at the AMW website and standard text messaging charges apply). Voting for the Grand Prize winner closes on May 3. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter, and will be featured in an episode of America's Most Wanted to air Saturday, May 29, 2010 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT on FOX).

The eight finalists are:

·    Daniel Clark, a Winston-Salem, North Carolina police officer who survived a gunshot wound to the head, chasing a suspect in a domestic violence dispute.

·    Anthony DePonzio, an officer with Rochester, New York Police who was gunned down as he was leaving a call for backup that had been resolved.

·    John Montgomery, the Sheriff of Baxter County, Arkansas, took crime fighting high tech, using the internet to take over 600 fugitives off the streets in two years.

·    Richard Salter, a Houston, Texas officer who was shot in the face while attempting to serve a warrant to a suspected heroin dealer.

·    Jason Gassaway, a Sergeant with the Shasta County, California Sheriff’s Office who's brave actions ended a three hour hostage situation with an armed bank robber.

·    Lee Gragg, a police officer from Palmetto, Georgia, who was gravely injured by a fleeing driver while conducting a road safety check.

·    Vidal Colon, a recently retired police officer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who in spite of being wounded was able to end a tense and violent confrontation.

·    Tim Davis, a Cedar Rapids police officer who was attacked and suffered a brain injury while attempting to apprehend a robbery suspect.

AMW Host John Walsh will present the 2010 AMW All-Star with a check for $10,000 at the NASCAR SPRINT Cup Series™ All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 22^nd.