Four Muscatine police officers previously recognized while the City Council met in virtual session were in Council Chambers Thursday to receive awards from Mayor Diana Broderson.
Jolisa Coleman was presented the Medal of Valor while Whitney Pena, Mark Schollmeyer, and Matt Fowler received the Life Saving Award, according to a news release.
Jensen was dispatched Aug. 25 to the riverfront about5 a female having a mental-health crisis. The woman was in the mud at the water line and refused to come to the shore, and walked into the Mississippi River in a suicide attempt. Jensen went into the river, grabbed hold of her and brought the woman back to shore, saving her life.
Colman was recognized during the May 7 City Council virtual meeting and was presented with the Medal of Valor for saving a woman who tried to jump from the High Bridge into the Mississippi River on Feb. 20. Because Colman’s action to save someone else’s life put her own in danger, she was presented the Medal of Valor, only the third Medal of Valor presented in the history of the Muscatine Police Department.
During the incident, Colman tried to talk with the woman, who was sitting on the side of the bridge with her feet dangling over the ledge.
As Colman approached, the woman pushed herself over the ledge, saying she was going to jump. Colman got to the ledge in time to grab the woman’s arm and jacket sleeve, preventing the woman from falling into the river.
Colman held on to the woman while on the ledge of the bridge and tried to pull the woman up. The woman landed on the beams of the bridge, just under the ledge.
Colman continued to talk with the woman while she was on the beams below the ledge. The woman eventually climbed her way back to the bridge, over the railing, and to safety.
Pena was recognized during the May 7 City Council virtual meeting and presented with the Lifesaving Award for saving a child’s life on Feb. 29 while she attended a birthday party in the pool area of Americ Inn.
Pena was off duty in the pool area at the Americ Inn when she noticed another woman pulling a child from the water in the shallow end of the pool. Pena ran over to where the adult and child were.
Pena noticed the boy, 7, was purple, blue in the face, and was not breathing. She immediately began CPR on the child with the help of two other adults. Pena performed CPR on the child for about four minutes until the boy spat out a large amount of water and began to breathe on his own.
Paramedics arrived shortly after the child began to breathe and transported him to an emergency room. Pena had CPR training through the police department.
Schollmeyer and Fowler were recognized with the Lifesaving Award during the Aug. 6 City Council virtual meeting for saving a woman’s life on July 7.
Fowler and Schollmeyer, a rookie with the department, were on patrol in the south end of Muscatine when they noticed heavy smoke rising into the air. They discovered the front of the home in the 500 block of Liberty engulfed in flames.
After they called in the fire, the officers tried to enter the structure through the front door but were turned back by the intense heat and fire. They moved around to the back of the house and saw an 80-year-old woman lying on the floor about three feet inside the rear entrance. The officers broke open the back door, pulled the woman to safety, and administered aid until Muscatine Fire Department Paramedics arrived.
The Medal of Valor is awarded to an officer who “intelligently and in the line of duty, conscious of the danger and at great risk of imminent personal harm or hazard, distinguishes him or herself by the performance of an act of gallantry and valor above and beyond the call of duty”. The Life Saving Medal is awarded to an officer who, while acting within their scope of duties, saves the life of another person.
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