Police telecommunicators Vanessa Martilotto and Tammy Robinson with the booking photo of Kimarni Cotto. {Coconut Creek Police}
Two civilian members of the Coconut Creek Police Department were recognized Tuesday for their work using high-tech video tools to help catch a fleeing suspect, authorities said.
Vanessa Martilotto and Tammy Robinson, telecommunicators in the city’s Real Time Crime Center, heard a 911 call about a rock-throwing vandal go out over the police radio in South Creek on Sept.1, authorities said.
Watching camera feeds inside the RTCC facility, the city’s tech-driven crime-fighting center, the women spotted Kimarni Cotto, a 24-year-old suspect in the rock-throwing case, on live video fleeing from the scene of the crime, according to police.
Cotto had allegedly thrown rocks and broken windows at the Regions Bank at 4808 Coconut Creek Pkwy shortly before 1 p.m., leading to a 911 report, police said.
Cotto allegedly ran off and made his way to the Coconut Creek Community Center on Lyons Road, police said.
Accessing real-time footage from a camera outside the center, Martilotto and Robinson spotted Cotto on video, then tracked him as he walked outside a women’s bathroom at the center, police said.
The women quickly notified officers about Cotto’s location and used the RTCC feeds to guide them to the bathroom, which Cotto had entered, according to authorities.
Officers found Cotto inside the bathroom, and he came out without a fight, police said.
In addition to the window damage at Regions Bank, officers said they also spotted a window Cotto allegedly broke at the nearby Conviva Care Center.
He was being held without bond at the North Broward Bureau Jail Wednesday on charges that include multiple counts of criminal mischief.
In March, Cotto was arrested in Margate for allegedly throwing objects at passing cars and striking one, records show.
For their quick-thinking, Martilotto and Robinson were named the Coconut Creek Police Department Civilians of the Quarter, police said.
The honor makes the women eligible for the department’s Civilians of the Year Award, according to the department.
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