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APD presents lifesaving and meritorious-service medals for multiple emergency responses
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Summary
At the same ceremony APD awarded lifesaving medals to officers who intervened in suicide attempts, a severe bleeding injury and a bridge fall, and gave meritorious-service recognition for crowd-control and other actions.
During the Austin Police Department’s quarterly awards ceremony, supervisors read nominations and presented lifesaving and meritorious-service medals for several incidents in which officers rendered immediate aid or led critical responses.
Sergeant Wu described a Nov. 10, 2024, incident involving Detective Davis, who arrived after a witness reported a male throwing a female from a bridge. According to the nomination read at the ceremony, Detective Davis climbed down bridge supports, pulled the female from water where her head was “halfway underwater,” and coordinated with Austin Fire Department personnel to extricate her; the nominator said that Davis’s actions “ultimately led to the victim getting the medical assistance she required to save her life.”
Lieutenant David Nordstrom read a nomination for Corporal Thomas Villarreal for an May 18, 2024, response to a suicidal individual on a bridge. The nomination says Villarreal physically intervened, held the subject and deescalated the situation for five minutes without backup, then transferred the subject to medical professionals.
Sergeant Tim Hamby read the nomination for Officer Riley Smith, saying that on Feb. 15, 2025, Smith intervened to stop a missing high-risk suicidal juvenile who had fled Dell Children’s Hospital and attempted to climb over a parking garage railing; Smith pulled the subject to safety and returned the juvenile to the hospital.
Sergeant Lancellata and other nominators recounted a March 25, 2025, arrest where Officers Adam Carodi and Rosalie Callejas applied tourniquets and pressure to stop life-threatening bleeding after a subject sustained severe lacerations while fleeing a trespass. The nomination credited the officers’ application of three tourniquets and a pressure bandage with preventing fatal blood loss.
Sergeant Michael Jones read the nomination for Officer Joshua Lobb and Officer Allen DiMartini for an April 25 incident at 2817 Kintish Drive in which officers found a subject hanging in a tree, cut the ligature, and began CPR until Austin-Travis County EMS regained a pulse; the nomination cited hospital staff who said the officers’ rapid actions gave the subject a chance to survive.
Sergeant Steven Yerco read a nomination for Officer Amy Petrie and Officer Matthew Bishop, who located a collapsed person who was not breathing, immediately provided CPR and sustained life-saving measures until higher-level care arrived.
The department also presented a meritorious-service award for Officer Brian McCullough and Officer James Morgan for their leadership and measured crowd-control actions during a protest that escalated into a violent street takeover on Feb. 3, 2025, at Rutland Drive and North Lamar; the nomination states they organized a skirmish line and used a measured pepper-ball response to disperse the crowd and restore order.
Presenters repeatedly noted that many of the lifesaving actions were captured on body-worn camera and documented in incident reports; nominators credited rapid intervention, CPR and tactical medical care with saving lives.
