KALISPELL — Justin Turner has worked for the Kalispell Police Department for the last 11 years and currently serves as a Master Patrolman.
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Turner recently received one of the highest law enforcement honors in the state after an incredible showing of strength and courage during multiple traumatic events last year.
In June, he was named Montana Officer of the Year.
In a span of roughly 12 weeks in 2025 Patrolman Turner encountered three traumatic events that forever changed his life and career.
On May 11, 2025, Turner and other officers responded to a suspicious mental health call from Nicholas Olson-Hartley in Kalispell.
Turner was the first officer to enter the home where he discovered bodies from an apparent murder suicide that included Olson-Hartley’s wife and two young children.
“And as soon as I turned the corner that’s when I saw the baby and just immediately my heart sank, I just knew I could tell from 5 feet away and it just affirmed everything,” said Turner.
Turner was shift supervisor and had to immediately control the scene and relay information to other officers.
He couldn’t stop thinking of his own family including his three young children.
“Just trying to process my own emotions but then still having to be the guy that’s in charge and coordinating all of this, now I’m making phone calls, hey you guys need to do this and you need to do that, that was probably one of the harder aspects of it was just that coordination piece,” said Turner.
Just two weeks later Turner and his family were at a birthday party at a crowded swimming pool when he heard his wife scream and realized his 4-year-old son Pierce was drowning.
“Immediately began to just assess the situation, and you know no pulse, he’s not breathing, he’s blue in the face, he has water coming out of his mouth, and immediately just went to work.”
Turner relied on his first responder training to remain calm while he gave his son rescue breaths and chest compressions.
He was able to revive Pierce, saving his young son’s life.
“I was very thankful for the fact that I have this job and I was able to fall back on those because I just think about what if I didn’t, what if I wasn’t familiar with CPR and what to do in crisis and emergencies, would I have been able to do the same thing and save him,” said Turner.
Just weeks later Turner was the acting shift supervisor responding to a plane crash at Kalispell City Airport where all four occupants miraculously survived despite the plane being totally engulfed.
“How those guys walked out of that plane with no injuries because it was completely engulfed in fire and they walked out, I mean I don’t get it, how hot that fire burned I just don’t understand how those guys were able to just walk away,” said Turner.
Turner was nominated for Montana Officer of the Year by Kalispell Police Chief Jordan Venezio and was selected from the Montana Association of Chief of Police and the Montana Police Protective Association to receive the honor.
He said the recognition is for everyone he works alongside with at the Kalispell Police Department.
“I just felt a really big sense of pride for this department and agency that I’m representing this agency to its fullest, so that the rest of the state knows like those guys man, they do good work up there," said Turner.
Turner’s wife Kiersta couldn’t be prouder of her husband.
“He just swooped into action and was so professional even though it was his own family, and the amount of thankfulness that I feel is like indescribable, he’s our superhero, real life superhero,” said Kiersta.
