Bartlesville Police Department officers (in uniform) Steven Letterman, K.C. Jackson, Cpl. Ryan Deshields, Patrick Ballard and Shawn Caudle were presented with the department’s Life Saving Award during a City Council meeting Monday. Also pictured are Mayor Dale Copeland, right, Police Chief Tracy Roles, left, and Capt. Troy Newell.
Several Bartlesville Police Department officers received the BPD Life Saving Award during a City Council meeting on Monday. In two of the cases, the life-saving drug Narcan was administered to individuals who had overdosed on heroin, and another incident involved saving the life of a man who had attempted suicide.
Officer Steven Letterman responded to a call for service in November 2021 and encountered an unresponsive, apparently lifeless man on the floor of the residence. Letterman applied a series of “sternum rubs,” a painful technique used to revive unresponsive individuals, which had no visible effect.
“Officer Letterman then administered a dose of Narcan nasal spray and continued the sternum rub until the man became responsive and alert,” said Police Chief Tracy Roles.
Roles said the man said later that he had used heroin prior to police arrival.
In a separate incident, Officer K.C. Jackson responded to a residence in January of this year where a man was reportedly having a medical issue. Jackson approached the man, who was lying on the floor of the residence.
“The male was on his right side with a small amount of blood coming from his nose,” Roles said. “(He) was not responding to Officer Jackson’s voice and had very slow delayed breaths. Officer Jackson was able to feel a faint pulse and could hear the occasional moan from the man. He attempted to wake the male with sternal rub while (talking to him). When the man’s color began to change and his lips began turning purple, Officer Jackson administered a dose of Narcan.”
Roles said the man “took a deep breath and shook a little,” and that Jackson resumed the sternal rub until Bartlesville Fire and EMS personnel arrived.
“Once the male was loaded in the ambulance and was stable and awake, the man told authorities he had used heroin,” Roles said.
Officers Patrick Ballard, Shawn Caudle, and Cpl. Ryan Deshields received the award for saving the life of a man who had attempted to hang himself at a local hotel.
“In the early morning hours of Feb. 12, night shift officers were dispatched to an area hotel in reference to a possible suicidal subject,” Roles said, noting that Caudle, Ballard, and Deshields quickly located the hotel room and attempted access with a room key card supplied to them by the hotel management.
Roles said the door was unable to be opened all the way due to a physical lock holding the door in the closed position, so officers kicked the door open, finding a man who had hung himself using a belt.
“The officers acted quickly and were able to cut the man down,” Roles said. “They administered first aid to the man until EMS arrived on scene.”
Roles said the man had no pulse and was not breathing until receiving medical attention after the incident.
“It is clear that, had the officers not responded in an appropriate manner to the call and took the necessary action of forcing entry into the room, cutting the person down and administering aid to them, this person would have certainly died,” he said.
“These are great examples of leadership and proper response to situations that could have ended in the loss of life. The quick response and actions taken by these officers are a testimony to their dedication, not only to the Bartlesville Police Department but also the citizens of Bartlesville.”