PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — A Port St. Lucie Police sergeant received a Police Purple Heart at a ceremony in Port St. Lucie Wednesday afternoon.

Sgt. Erik Levasseur was shot twice in the face on December 1 when he responded to a disturbance in the Town Park at the Tradition gated neighborhood.

The gunman Frankie Riccio died in a shootout with police.

Some say Sgt. Erik Levasseur was not expected to survive when he was shot twice in the face in early December.

Since then, he’s had about a dozen surgeries and he’s on the road to recovery.

Sgt. Levasseur, 55, has come a long way.

Members of his department applauded, gave him a standing ovation and warmly congratulated him on a job well done Wednesday.

“Senior Sgt. Erik Levasseur please stand,” said Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk, during the 2025 Fourth Quarter Awards Ceremony at the MIDFLORIDA Event Center Wednesday afternoon.

“By the order of the Chief of Police Leo Niemczyk, the Law Enforcement Purple Heart is awarded to Senior Sgt. Erik Levasseur,” said the announcer as a crowd of several hundred people watched.

Moments after getting the Police Purple Heart, Sgt. Levasseur looked back over the events of the past several weeks, multiple surgeries, his rehabilitation and long recovery.

“What a Purple Heart means, it’s very overwhelming. And the support I’ve gotten from this whole thing has just been, I hate to say the word overwhelming again, but it has been,” Sgt. Levasseur explained.

Police bodycam video captured the incident in early December, when Sgt. Levasseur and several other Port St. Lucie Police Officers responded to a disturbance call in the Town Park at Tradition gated neighborhood.

Riccio, who was armed with a rifle opened fire and he died in a shootout with police.

Sgt. Levasseur was shot twice in the face, and suffered severe and life-threatening injuries, multiple facial fractures, significant trauma, and shrapnel in both eyes.

“It’s going to be a long time before I can come back. But I am very eager to get back to work. Unfortunately, it’s gonna be a while. I have a long road ahead of me, surgery wise,” he said.

The Police Chief says Sgt. Levasseur has made tremendous progress in his recovery from the gunshot wounds to his face.

“I’m just incredibly proud of him. His internal courage and fortitude to push through this has been something that we should all model ourselves after,” said Leo Niemczyk, Port St. Lucie Police Chief.

“I’m extremely hopeful, but the reality is I do have severe damage to my eyes and I am just glad that I can actually stand here and see you, gentlemen and ladies within a couple of feet of me as it right now,” Sgt. Levasseur said, as he spoke with members of the news media.

The trauma surgeon who treated Sgt. Levasseur is impressed by how far he’s come.

“Every injury he had, the recovery from, was a miracle. It exceeded, like broke all the odds. We anticipate that he will have a full recovery for his vision, maybe by the end of this year,” said Dr. David Rubay, Trauma Medical Director, HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Ft. Pierce.

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Thomas Matteo, a Vietnam veteran in Port St. Lucie who received six Purple Hearts, recently gave one of his Purple Hearts to Sgt. Levasseur also.

“I felt that the small token for this officer would be unique. Unique in the sense that maybe society, the people, would realize what a great sacrifice,” said Matteo in an exclusive interview with CBS12 News in December 2025.

“I mean, he was going to help a gentleman that was having allegedly mental issues, a breakdown. He was there to serve him, to help him, and beyond his control, he wound up getting shot.”

When Sgt. Levasseur will be able to return to work is still to be determined.

Chief Niemczyk says he feels Sgt. Levasseur will be able to work in some capacity in training, helping new officers to learn all the skills they need and benefit from his nearly 30 years’ experience with this police force.

According to Port St. Lucie Police Public Information Officer Lt. Joe Norkus, Sgt. Erik Levasseur is the fourth person in the history of the Port St. Lucie Police Department to be given the Purple Heart.