BPD PHOTO Belvidere Republican
Sgt. Ball, Ofc. Schwartz, Weiland, Kaplan, and Schutz were presented with a Life Saving award to-night at city council for the successful water rescue from the Kishwaukee on May 25. Ofc. Parker was presented a Valor award for going into the river and retrieving the female from the flooded rushing waters.

By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

The life of city police officers has changed considerably over the years and there are fewer typical days, when they primarily keep busy writing traffic tickets, responding to complaints, and filling out incident reports.

One Belvidere sergeant and five officers were honored during the July 27 Committee of the Whole meeting for their team effort in effecting a rescue along the Kishwaukee River. Officer Brandon Parker received the Belvidere Police Department’s Valor Service Award while Sgt. Michael Ball and officers Rich Weiland, Michelle Schwartz, Julie Schultz, and Jonathan Kaplan were presented with the department’s Life Saving Service Award, as all battled a strong, fast-moving current caused by the high-water level to save a life.

Police Chief Shane Woody recalled how the individual officers banded together and became an effective team, which saved a woman from being swept away, after she overturned while paddling a kayak.

It all started at 4:35 p.m. May 25, 2020, when officers were dispatched to the 800 block of N. Appleton Road, west of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1461, to the report of a woman who had been seen holding on to a tree after falling into the river.

Mayor Mike Chamberlain, 10 aldermen and others heard the following recap of what the sergeant and the five officers did after getting to the scene:

-Officer Parker “went above and beyond the call of duty,” Chief Woody stated, by retrieving a life vest from a bystander, putting it on, and utilizing a Belvidere Police Dept. water rescue rope that had been tied around his waist. He then entered the river and swam through the fast-moving current to the woman, retrieved her from the tree branch, and held on to her while other Belvidere police officers, and other assisting officers pulled the two of them to shore.

“Your actions were an act of bravery and heroism,” the chief continued. “You acted in a selfless manner with courage and devotion to duty, risking your own life and personal safety to save the female from being swept away by the strong current, and saving her from the possibility of injury and/or death.”

-Sgt. Ball assisted in the successful recovery of the woman, who was found holding on to a tree branch in the river, by coordinating and directing the rescue efforts, and assisting other Belvidere officers in pulling Officer Parker and the woman to shore with a rescue rope.

“Your leadership and actions led to the successful team effort of saving a human life,” Chief Woody stated.

-Officer Weiland secured the police department’s rescue rope around the waist of Officer Parker, with a proper knot to reduce the risk of Parker floating down the fast-moving river current while attempting to swim to the woman hanging on to the tree branch. Weiland then assisted in pulling Parker and the woman to shore.

“Your actions resulted in the successful team effort of saving a human life,” the chief stated.

-Officers Schwartz, Schultz, and Kaplan assisted in the successful recovery of the woman who was found holding on to a tree branch. They assisted in pulling Parker and the woman to shore, with the rescue rope.

Woody repeated what he had said before, to the three officers: “Your actions resulted in the successful team effort of saving a human life.”

An Eagle Scout

The officers who were able to attend the committee meeting appeared in the front part of the meeting room at city hall, joining Chief Woody and Deputy Chiefs Matthew Wallace and Patrick Gardner.

Applause followed each of the chief’s recollections of what they had done that day.

In addition, as a footnote to one of his reports, the chief said Officer Weiland had been an Eagle Scout as a youngster, which helped contribute to that particular rescue.

After the presentations, Officer Parker was asked to say a few words on behalf of all those who joined hands to save a life that afternoon.

He said the team standing to his left really helped out that day. In particular, of Officer Weiland who tied the knot that secured the rescue rope around his waist, Parker said he thought, “Where did he learn to tie a knot?” If he had not done that, Parker surmised he might be still traveling down the river.

Looking again to his left, he said, “Without you guys – when you stop and think about it, I had full clothes on, she had full clothes on, the current was extremely strong that day, the water was cold.”

In addition, the rescue effort also included help from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and Belvidere Fire Department, he said. “It took that many people to pull us in with the current,” he stressed. “I’m proud to stand by them at any call!”

In recent years Belvidere police have been involved with saving other lives, too. Among those efforts have been administering the agent Narcan to revive men and women who had succumbed to the use of heroin.

 

 
 
 
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