PORT ST. LUCIE — A highly decorated Marine Corps veteran and former police chief has passed on his final Purple Heart to a Port St. Lucie police sergeant wounded in the line of duty, the department announced.
Thomas Matteo, a six-time Purple Heart recipient, gave the medal to the Port St. Lucie Police Department on behalf of Sgt. Erik Levasseur, who was shot during an exchange of gunfire while responding to a disturbance earlier this month.
Matteo enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 1963 and served two tours in Vietnam, where he was wounded six times and received multiple Purple Hearts…