PRESS RELEASE

2018 DCSSAR Public Safety Awards Announced

Officer Euri Hernandez received the SAR Law Enforcement Commendation Award during the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department awards program on March 27, 2018 that was held at the THEARC in southeast Washington, DC.

Briefly, on June 1, 2017, Officer Hernandez and his partner received a call for service at Saint Elizabeth's Hospital for a combative patient who was armed with a large make shift weapon. When they confronted the patient they found him extremely agitated and demanded that the officers shoot him. In law enforcement parlance this is considered an attempted suicide by cop. Officer Hernandez was trained in the sort of crisis intervention required to abate the situation with the use of little or no force. The officer successfully calmed the patient down and he self-disarmed. Through his patience and persistent efforts, the officer successfully deescalated the situation without any harm to the patient, hospital staff and other police officers. 

DC Firefighter/EMS Jeffrey Beach received the SAR Emergency Medical Services Award during the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Management Services awards program on April 27, 2018 that was held on the campus of Gallaudet University.

Briefly while off duty and in his personal vehicle, EMS Beach witnessed a motor vehicle accident on MLK Highway and Lottsford Vista Road in Lanham Maryland that occurred during the late evening hours on May 9, 2017. He stopped to render aid at which time he found Brittany Crowell trapped inside her overturned vehicle. EMS Beach gained access to Miss Crowell by using a pocket knife and his bare hands to cut through the windshield. He found that the victim’s arm had been amputated at the elbow.  Relying on his EMS training, he used his belt and applied it as a tourniquet.  Upon the arrival of paramedics, the victim was cut from the vehicle and flown to a local trauma center by the Maryland State Police Medivac helicopter. EMS Beach was credited with saving the life of Ms. Crowell and ultimately saving her arm.