Hometown heroes honored

Employees of a Minneapolis hotel were honored for swift action that saved a drowning man's life.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: November 12, 2009 - 11:33 PM

Stephen Smith and Jason Cariveau were in their standard work garb at Minneapolis' Millennium Hotel -- suits and ties, shined shoes, keys in pockets -- when the call crackled over their handheld radios the evening of Aug. 10. A man was lying unresponsive at the bottom of the hotel pool's 8-foot deep end.

The two sprang into action, diving fully clothed into the pool, bringing Adekunle Badru, 43, to the surface and performing CPR until help arrived.

Badru, a Somerset, N.J., husband and father of three, spent three weeks in a coma before regaining consciousness and recovering. "I heard him on the news last night," Cariveau, 37, the hotel's former human resources director, said Thursday. "Just hearing his voice was amazing."

Because of their swift, selfless actions in saving Badru, the two men were among 36 civilians, law enforcement officials, EMTs and firefighters honored at the 26th annual Minnesota Public Safety Service Awards dinner Thursday night in Brooklyn Park.

They were honored alongside such figures as North St. Paul police officer Richard Crittenden, who was killed in the line of duty in September, and Maplewood police officer Julie Olson, who, though wounded, managed to shoot and kill the man who had shot Crittenden. Both received valor awards, along with Mahnomen County Deputy Chris Dewey, who was shot and seriously injured in February.

It was Olson's first public appearance since the incident.

Smith, 21, who was working as a bellman that night, said he had taken CPR training through work, but had never used it in a practical situation. He performed chest compressions while Cariveau did mouth-to-mouth. They never spoke, but just acted.

Badru's wife, Justine, credited the men, along with her three children, who called for help, for her husband's survival.

"Thank you," she said.

Cariveau said he isn't entirely comfortable with his new title.

"I don't know if I'd call myself a hero," he said sheepishly. "I just hope someone would do the same for me."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

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