By Susan Smiley
The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.
WARREN, Mich. — Two Warren Police officers received the Carnegie Medal for heroism after saving a child who had been electrocuted by a downed power line.
Officer David Chapman and Cpl. Daniel Rose were given the medals at a special ceremony at Warren City Hall on Nov. 21.
Warren police officers were in the area of Schoenherr and Toepfer roads Aug. 30, 2022 in pursuit of a suspect during an unrelated incident when they observed a child grabbing a power line that was hanging about four feet off the ground. The boy’s 10-year-old brother tried to pull his younger sibling off the wire by hitting him with a backpack and police officers immediately intervened and removed both boys from the area across the street from McKinley Elementary School that had been cordoned off with caution tape and cones.
Chapman and Rose put both boys into their squad car and drove them to Henry Ford St. John Hospital in Detroit. They were able to get to the hospital in four minutes.
“What happened that day was as real as it gets,” said acting Police Commissioner Charles Rushton. “Life and death, a split second decision, with a child’s life hanging in the balance; officers Rose and Chapman responded without hesitation and confronted danger and worked together to save a child’s life.”
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission was created in 1904 to recognize outstanding acts of selfless heroism performed in the United States and Canada. The Commission awards the Carnegie Medal to those who risk death or serious physical injury while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
Chapman and Rose said they were honored to receive the award, but that their actions were all in the line of duty and something any police officer if faced with the same situation would have done.
“What I did is what I do every day; I put on my uniform, put my shoes on and I go out,” said Chapman. “I would do what I did all over again because I put myself in his shoes; I would want someone to save me or rescue me.
“And if that was my child, I would have wanted someone to do that for my child.”
Rose knew that the boy had been electrocuted by the wire and remembers tapping his foot to see if he felt any shock to determine what needed to be done to remove the child from the situation.
“We just ended up grabbing him and dragging him and at about five feet I felt like a dog collar shock to my arm,” said Rose. “We started giving him a sternum rub and he started gasping a little bit.”
After learning fire personnel were occupied handling other emergencies created by a storm the previous night and were several minutes away, the officers opted to transport the boys to the hospital themselves.
“At that point you are operating on adrenaline,” said Rose. “I would hope that anyone who came upon a similar situation would make the same decision that we did.”
___
(c)2024 The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.
Visit The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich. at https://www.macombdaily.com/
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
