Two brawling men outside the South Side's Diesel nightclub told Officer Richard Houck it was just a misunderstanding; despite a bloody nose, they were friends. But the pair weren't parting ways fast enough, so neither did the officer.
Instead, he circled the area in his squad car, expecting a flare-up.
"I just kept shadowing them because I knew it wasn't over," he said. When one of the men reappeared, he was running toward Officer Houck, clutching his neck and drenched in blood. He had been slashed from his ear to his neck. He laid across the hood of Officer Houck's squad car, begging for help.
The officer grabbed a neighbor's towel and put pressure on his wounds, waiting for paramedics to arrive.
"I was like, I have to do it, he's going to die if I don't," Officer Houck said. "'If I would have left the area and not come back, who knows what would have happened."
Officer Houck saved the man's life and led police to his attacker, police officials said as they recognized him and more than 100 other officers during the city police bureau's yearly awards and commendations ceremony Friday at the City-County Building, Downtown.
Other honorees included Officer Caytlin Wood, who was off-duty in December when she chased and arrested a man who tried to steal her car at gunpoint; Detective John McBurney, whose undercover drug buys in July ended in the arrests of a couple who were dealing heroin in Lawrenceville; and a team of officers who infiltrated protest groups during the G-20 summit, seeking information for security purposes.
Among their strategies, Officers William Churilla, Johnny Ficorilli, Kevin Merkel, David Lincoln, and Dawn Mercurio created fake Facebook and Twitter accounts to gather information on protest plans that officials said helped keep police and protesters safe.
Officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo II, shot to death in Stanton Heights in April, were posthumously named the city's officers of the year.
"It's been a very difficult year in the bureau of police," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl told officers and their families. "Despite all of that, the police bureau continues to drive down crime ... They wake up and they do their jobs, and they should be commended."
Dozens of officers earned honors for leading the force in arrests for firearms violations, which Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson said underscores the dangerous nature of the job. Among them were Richard Ewing, Michael Saldutte and David Sisak, who have been suspended with pay while the city investigates a high school student's claims that they beat him without cause during his January arrest.
Their work contributed to the seizure of more than 1,000 illegal guns last year, Chief Donaldson said.
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