Detroit police sergeant, firefighter to receive Medal of Valor for saving suicidal man

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit is honoring several first responders at the annual Above and Beyond Awards tomorrow.

The backstory:

FOX 2 spoke to a couple recipients - a  member of the Detroit Fire Department and a Detroit Police Department sergeant will be honored Thursday for acts of service defined saving a life in September of last year.

DFD's Sam Lemire and DPD's Rodney Ballinger are being awarded the Medal of Valor for their efforts which took nearly two hours to rescue a man suffering a mental crisis.

The man was perched on a fourth-story window ledge with no clothes on. They worked together to pull him off the ledge and prevent a tragedy.

Ballinger described the dire moments.

"It got to the point where we believed he was about ready to jump," he said. "And Firefighter Lemire and I were on either side, and simply nodded to one another. He went for his waist and I went for his arm and we all pulled in, and saved him."

This was a coordinated rescue through the shattered window, pulling the man off the ledge - putting their own safety at risk the whole time. The man wasn't speaking and couldn't comply.

It was very precarious because he only had a broken window frame studded with glass to stand on.

"It was a very significant collaboration between DPD and DFD that day," Lemire said. "Even though Sgt Ballinger and I hardly said a word to each other, we had developed a rapport the last two hours and kind of figured out this guy was about to jump and we needed to act very quickly.

"It was a very complex psychiatric issue. There was negotiators involved."

Lemire also helped save a man in cardiac arrest using a defibrillator and will receive a second award.

The Above and Beyond ceremony will be honoring both men at Ford Field tomorrow, among the 37 first responders who will be recognized.