Police department presents Life Saving and citizen appreciation awards
If not for Cloquet Police Officer Scott Beckman, a tearful father told the Cloquet City Council Tuesday, he wouldn’t be alive today to see his children grow up.By: Jana Peterson, Pine Journal
- Schneberger
- Beckman
- Halvorson
If not for Cloquet Police Officer Scott Beckman, a tearful father told the Cloquet City Council Tuesday, he wouldn’t be alive today to see his children grow up.
“I was at probably my lowest point that I could be, I wanted to end everything,” said the man (who did not want to be named). “I decided I’d hang myself in the garage. It was just about a year ago... My wife found me; she cut me down. But if it wasn’t for [Beckman], I wouldn’t be standing here today.”
Cloquet Police Chief Wade Lamirande said when Beckman arrived on the scene, the man didn’t have a pulse.
“He opened his airways and began compressions to resuscitate him,” Lamirande said. “The paramedics took over when they arrived.”
Lamirande presented both Beckman and fellow Cloquet Police Officer Corey Schneberger with the department’s Life Saving Award at Tuesday’s meeting, in front of an audience of nearly 30 people, many of them fellow police officers or friends and family.
“It’s a tradition in the police department to acknowledge an officer for a successful effort in saving someone’s life which involves exceptional courage or performance,” Lamirande said, before presenting the awards.
Each officer was presented with a medal and a pin, which he can wear on his uniform.
Schneberger’s award came for an incident that occurred July 16, 2011. Lamirande said Schneberger was the first officer on the scene after dispatch got a call about a suicidal female standing on the exterior side of a bridge rail.
“Corey was able to calm the individual long enough and get close enough to be able to grab her,” Lamirande said. “She resisted, but he was able to pull her onto the bridge deck. Since then, she’s gotten some mental help and she’s doing better.”
Also Tuesday, Lamirande presented Theresa Halverson with a “Citizens Certificate of Appreciation” from the Cloquet Police Department.
Prior to her award – which was a surprise – Halverson had presented Lamirande with a $5,000 check for the department’s K9 unit, money raised through T-shirt sales and other fund-raising efforts spearheaded by Halverson after the department’s longtime K9 officer Tessa had to be put down because of health issues last summer. Halverson is engaged to Tessa’s longtime handler, Detective Scott Holman.
“A successful fundraiser is $500,” Lamirande said when Halverson gave him the check. “To get a check for $5,000 is huge.
“No one is more deserving of this award than Theresa,” he said, explaining that the award goes to citizens who provide exemplary service or assistance to the police department, above and beyond what is normally expected of a good citizen.
“The recent fund-raising effort is just part of what Theresa Halverson has done for the police department,” he said, praising Halverson for her efforts when the department hosted the Police K9 National Competition and other ways she has helped the department.
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