Melvindale Police Sgt. Matthew Furman (left) and Lt. Robert Kennaley are honored with Merit Citations March 14 by the Public Safety Commission for their actions Jan. 15, which prevented a man’s suicide.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – Police Lt. Robert Kennaley and Police Sgt. Matthew Furman were recognized March 14 by the Public Safety Commission for their actions on Jan. 15 which prevented a man’s suicide.
Public Safety Commission Chair Jeffrey Bolton awarded the Merit Citations on behalf of the commission and Mayor Wheeler Marsee.
Furman and Kennaley talked with the man, who was holding a knife, for more than an hour in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and get him to surrender the knife. However, when the man began crying and breathing heavily while also moving the knife toward the center of his chest in an attempt to stab himself, Furman deployed his electroshock weapon to incapacitate the man, while Kennaley jumped on the man’s body to grab the knife and take it away from him.
The commission praised the police officers for going above and beyond the call of duty and for willingly and knowingly putting their own lives at risk.