Police officers are asked to respond to a variety of calls every day when they start their patrol shifts. On April 17, 2018, Waukesha Police Officer Joshua Tyndall responded to a call for a suicide attempt, an active situation since the subject was trying to hang himself in his basement in front of his girlfriend and young children.
When he arrived at the scene, he noticed a small child in the front of the residence, wearing pajamas, crying, who asked him, “can you save my Dad's life?”
More: Steve Scaffidi's Salute to Service – check out all the honorees
As Officer Tyndall went inside, he could hear a neighbor screaming for help struggling to hold up the subject's lifeless body. After a few attempts to cut the wire which was tied to the basement ceiling, Officer Tyndall lifted the subject's body as high as he could as the neighbor untied the wire. Moments later, the subject gasped, and took a breath.
Officer Tyndall thinks about that call often.
“It was such a traumatic incident, with the family involved, I was just hoping that this guy makes it,” he said.
For his life-saving actions on the job and his willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, Waukesha Police Officer Joshua Tyndall's is today's winner of the WTMJ Cares Salute to Service Award.
Salute to Service is sponsored by First Bank Financial Centre.