By Dana Heupel, Springfield, Ill. State Journal Register
A Springfield, Ill. police officer received Illinois’ highest law enforcement award Monday for rescuing three people from a burning building in January 2003.
Officer Brian Graves and three other central Illinois police officers were among 18 from throughout the state presented with the Illinois Law Enforcement Medal of Honor during a luncheon at the Executive Mansion.
“The recipients we honor today are, in every sense, heroes,” Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said in opening the ceremony. Trent, who chaired the committee that selected the officers, said they “put their very lives on the line so others would be out of harm’s way.”
On Jan. 25, 2003, Graves was on an overnight patrol when he saw flames shooting from a house in the 200 block of North Douglas Street. The homeowner ran to him and said his daughter, her baby and her husband were trapped inside.
Graves couldn’t enter the house because of the smoke and flames but pulled a board off a ground-level window and used his flashlight to smash through a glass block and another board behind it. All the while, he could hear the trapped occupants screaming on the other side.
He worked himself halfway through the window and rescued the baby, then helped the parents crawl through. He suffered smoke inhalation, a small cut on his head and scratches. The couple and baby, as well as three other occupants of the home, were treated for smoke inhalation, and one suffered burns.
“It’s always nice to be honored for something you do,” Graves, an eight-year veteran of the force, said after Monday’s ceremony. He added, however, “In my personal opinion, I don’t think there’s an officer, a trooper, a deputy, a firefighter or a paramedic out there that’s not going to do the same thing, put in the same situation.”
For his action, Graves, 33, also has received honors from the Springfield Police Department, the Illinois Police Association, state Emergency Medical Services and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
His wife, Crystal, and his father, John, joined him during the awards luncheon.
Also at Monday’s ceremony, Peru police officers John Atkins and Adam Conness received the law enforcement medal for attempting to rescue the occupants of a car that had crashed into the Illinois River in August 2003.
State police trooper Joseph Savitch was awarded the medal for shooting a suspect who had disarmed another trooper and was threatening to kill him with his own service weapon in October 2003.
The ceremony honored officers for heroic acts in 2002 and 2003. Normally, the awards are presented annually, but Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not appoint members to the awards committee until last spring. Blagojevich was unable to attend the ceremony Monday, but in a news release, he commended the officers “for their unselfish acts of bravery.”
Other medal recipients were Chicago police officers Randal King, Sgt. Dennis Walsh, Joseph Stefanec, Emmett McClendon, Federico Andaverde, Andrew Dakuras, Sgt. Christopher Fletcher, Luis Maldonado, David Sepulveda and Wilfredo Torres; Rockford officers Amado Soria and Juan Tapia; Homewood officer David Tobin; and state police Master Sgt. Todd Rohlwing.