Minn. Honors 11 Police Officers Who Saved Lives

Jan. 21--They saved people from perilous situations -- jumping off a bridge, a house full of flames, bleeding out from a stab wound.

St. Paul Police Chief Thomas Smith recognized 11 officers Wednesday with Life-Saving Awards, but first he invoked one of his favorite quotes: "Courage is grace under pressure," by Ernest Hemingway.

"And you're going to ... hear some stories today about some officers ... that were under intense pressure for the things they did to save somebody else's life," Smith said.

One officer has been "blessed with a double dose of grace," Smith said, noting that Michael DeTomaso, a St. Paul officer for five years, would get the award twice for his work in separate incidents.

After receiving the awards, the winners largely had the same response: officers in St. Paul and across the country do life-saving work every day and, while they appreciated being honored, they don't do the job for the recognition.

These are how the officers earned the awards:

-- A man perched on the outside railing of the High Bridge on Dec. 13, 2014, holding onto a light pole. For two hours, Sgt. Don Benner and Officers Timothy Hale and Stephen Lentsch tried to persuade him to climb back to safety. But the man said "goodbye" and leaned over the water.

The officers, along with DeTomaso and Officer Daniel Gleason, grabbed onto the man to keep him from falling.

"Officers, your hold was the only thing that prevented the male from falling," Smith told them.

The man was struggling and trying to escape the officers' grasps, so they had trouble pulling him over the railing. Firefighters helped lift him to safety.

"The collective determination and perseverance to prevent this man from ending his life on the bridge that day is more than admirable," Smith said.

-- Officers Charles Ankney and Jeffrey Boyle were on patrol July 28, 2014, when they came across a home engulfed in flames, their commendation said. People gathered on the street yelled to them that people were inside, and one assisted officers to open a window and help the residents escape.

One resident had panicked when she saw the fire, and she and her 6-month-old daughter hadn't escaped.

"Absolutely, without these officers' efforts, we would have had people perish in that fire," Smith said. "They put their own safety at risk."

-- Matthew Brodin was a new St. Paul officer Feb. 1, when he and his field-training officer responded to an assault and found a man lying on the floor with a stab wound to his neck. Brodin applied direct pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived.

"Medics stated that without your quick actions to stop the blood flow, the victim would have died," Smith told Brodin.

-- Sgt. James LaBarre responded May 17, 2014, to a call of an unconscious woman suspected of overdosing. "Despite the chaotic scene, he initiated chest compressions while waiting for medics to arrive," LaBarre's commendation said.

The young woman's lips were blue, but she began to breathe and was taken to the hospital. LaBarre's "efforts and quick decision to immediately start CPR undoubtedly saved" her life, Smith said.

-- A man had collapsed outside the Dorothy Day Center on May 3, and Officer Nicole Obrestad began to perform CPR on him. Officer Edward Dion and DeTomaso soon arrived and assisted with CPR for about 5 minutes until paramedics took over. The man wasn't breathing and had no pulse, and the St. Paul fire paramedics took the unusual step of cutting open the man's throat to get air into his blocked windpipe, saving his life.

"Their quick actions, calm demeanor, and the exemplary teamwork demonstrated by all three officers contributed to saving this man's life," Smith said.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

Copyright 2016 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.