The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recently recognized Officer Randy Paulson of Pleasanton and Deputy Todd Gore of Dublin Police Services, for their work saving the life of a young woman attempting suicide off the I-580 overpass in March of 2005.
One could say Gore was at the right place, at the right time when he saw a woman climbing over the ledge of a freeway sign, about to jump, on March 16, 2005. Gore and Paulson made a split-second decision to scale the chain-link fence and climb onto the platform themselves.
In a miraculous rescue effort, Gore grabbed the arm of the woman as she completely let go of the sign. As the woman dangled above the eastbound lanes of the interstate, Paulson made his way over the wall to help Gore pull the woman to safety. The woman returned unharmed to solid ground where she was then hospitalized.
“It’s very unusual and they put themselves at incredible risk,” Pleasanton Police Chief Tim Neal said. Suicide cases, while uncommon, are increasing, as seen in the 2005 Annual Report from the Pleasanton Police Department. The number of psychiatric commitment cases has ranged from 211 in 2004 to 222 in 2005. “Of those, we estimate 80 percent are suicide attempts,” Chief Neal said.
But at what point does suicide affect more than just the individual? In a case like this one, the woman, suspended 28 feet above a concrete thoroughfare, could very easily have brought her rescuers plummeting down with her. As far as the job description goes, “there’s no requirement to commit suicide yourself,” Neal commented.
Thus, it is with these extraordinary circumstances that Gore and Paulson have been awarded such a medal. These two men bravely demonstrated how the fear of losing their own lives was overcome by the chance to save another’s.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission honored 15 individuals in 2006 from the U.S. and Canada with the Carnegie Medal for acts of heroism. Along with the medal, recipients get a $4,000 grant, for which Paulson plans on putting toward his son’s college fund.
The officers were notified by mail and Paulson was commended by the City Council with a resolution, but it was not publicly presented. The Council has invited him back August 15 to thank him again.
To date, 9,012 medals have been awarded from over 79,000 nominees. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, with a board of 21 members based out of Pittsburg, Pa., has given roughly $28.7 million in grants that can go to scholarship aid or continuing assistance.
Originally establish after a mining explosion in Harwick, Pa., Andrew Carnegie felt compelled to recognize two individuals who had lost their lives in an attempt to save their co-workers in the disaster. It was because of “civilization’s heroes,” as Carnegie would call them, that the commission was set up to recognize the everyday heroes that walk among us.
