The call came over the radio last January of an apparently suicidal man threatening to throw himself off a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp.
Shortly after police officers Toula Lor and Garrett Parten arrived, the man, who had taken LSD and stripped down to his boxers despite freezing weather, broke free from the 911 caller's grasp and started sprinting toward the ramp's edge.
The officers chased after him and Parten shocked the man with a Taser just before he reached the railing. Their quick thinking probably averted a tragic outcome, Minneapolis' Assistant Police Chief Mike Kjos said in giving the pair the department's lifesaving award.
The two were honored Tuesday at a department awards ceremony, along with several dozen other officers and civilians.
Another officer duo were recognized for their efforts to save the life of a shooting victim.
When officers Thomas Ferguson and Brian Graupner responded earlier this year to a report of a person with a gun on the city's South Side, they found a man suffering from four gunshot wounds. The officers put a chest seal and a tourniquet on him and started CPR until paramedics arrived and whisked him to a hospital, according to an account of the incident shared by Kjos.
"Medical staff and hospital stated without hesitation that if it weren't for our MPD officers, that individual would've died," Mayor Jacob Frey said. "They did it without fanfare or notoriety — they did this simply because they wanted to save lives and keep people safe."
One by one, the honorees walked up to get their medals or plaques, and a handshake from Chief Medaria Arradondo.
