Putnam Sheriff’s Sergeant and Deputy Commended for Preventing Man’s Suicide

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that he has officially commended a deputy sheriff and a sergeant for their actions in preventing a suicide. Sheriff Smith has conferred Sheriff’s Commendation Medals and uniform award ribbons upon Sergeant Timothy Keith and Deputy Sheriff Daniel Hunsberger for saving the life of a despondent 53-year-old man who tried to hang himself outside his Southeast residence on November 25, 2015. The awards were presented at a ceremony held at the Sheriff’s Office on February 16, 2016.

Back on the evening of November 25th of last year, Sgt. Keith and Deputy Hunsberger were dispatched to the man’s home after the Sheriff’s Office received a third-party request to check on his welfare. They pulled their patrol cars into the man’s driveway, and as they walked toward the home they encountered the man standing on a ladder alongside the garage, with a metal cable looped around his neck and attached to the garage roof. They tried to talk the man down, but he jumped off the ladder and began to be strangled by the cable noose.

Sergeant Keith and Deputy Hunsberger sprang instantly into action. They scrambled up the ladder and lifted and supported the man’s weight, even as he resisted and tried to push them away. Unable to loosen or cut the cable, the pair managed to use brute force to break a roof support to which the cable was attached. As the cable detached from the roof, all three men fell hard to the ground.

Disregarding their own pain from bruises and contusions suffered in the fall, Sgt. Keith and Deputy Hunsberger removed the noose from the man’s neck and administered emergency first aid to him. They established an open airway, administered oxygen, and immobilized the man’s spine as a precaution against any potential cervical injury. The man was subsequently turned over to the care of the Brewster Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which transported him to Danbury Hospital for further evaluation and treatment. The sergeant and deputy were later treated at Putnam Hospital Center for their injuries and released the same evening.

At the award ceremony, Sheriff Smith paid tribute to Sgt. Keith and Deputy Hunsberger for what he called “their selfless and valiant acts of valor, performed in spite of peril to themselves, which prevented a tragic death.” “Because of the heroic actions of Sgt. Keith and Deputy Hunsberger, another human being has been given a second chance at life,” said the Sheriff, “and for that we are all very grateful and proud.”