Fifteen people were honored Tuesday night by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

Those receiving Citizen Commendation Awards for trying to save someone life were:

Julie Todora and Andy Hutson: For an incident Dec. 17, 2010 at Hwy. 169 and Cedar Lake Road in which Todora, a state Department of Transportation employee assisted the driver of a vehicle who suffered a heart attack. Todora used an automated defibrillator on the man. Hutson also stopped to help and performed CPR on the victim. The man lived, and 11 days later he walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

Jennifer and Philip Geertsema: For an incident Aug. 15 at a pool at the Lancaster Village Apartments in Plymouth in which a 9-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man drowned. Philip Geertsema jumped in the pool to pull the victims out. Jennifer Geertsema helped perform CPR.

MaryAnn Wanjiru and Augustine Livington: For an incident July 2 at a pool at the Crystal Village Apartments in Crystal. MaryAnn helped pull a 6-year-old girl from the water. Augustine helped perform CPR. The girl survived.

Benjamin Martin: On May 21, Martin saw smoke coming from the back of a house in Hassan. He used a shovel to break a window and climbed on top of a wheelbarrow to try to save a victim trapped inside. A 19-year-old man died in the fire; his mother survived.

Srikanth Chinnagollareddy and Swetha Maddala: In August, they saved a 1-year-old child from drowning in a pool in Minnetonka

Jesse Thomas: In February, Thomas rescued a boy from the bottom of a pool at a middle school in Minneapolis. The child survived.

Claire Ulbrich: Ulbrich rescued a 4-year-old child while working as a lifeguard at the Maple Grove Community Center pool.

Dawn Allen Samuels and Julie Levin: In July, they helped save a 19-year-old man who nearly drowned at a hotel swimming pool in Bloomington.

Two other people received the Sheriff's Award of Merit.

Tony Spector helped create the Hennepin County Sheriff's Foundation adn served as its first board chairman.

John Derus is chairman of the Minnesota 100 Club, an organization that supports families of public servants who are killed or injured in the line of duty.

PAT PHEIFER