Geneva officers honored with Life Saving Medals for rescuing woman in distress

EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There also is an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

It was an average fall Tuesday in October.

The temperature was a chilly 50 degrees. It was breezy, with wind gusts at 25 to 35 miles an hour under a partly cloudy sky, with no rain in the forecast.

Traffic on Randall Road in Geneva was heavy during the noon hour when staff at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, 300 S. Randall Road, Geneva, called police.

They reported a woman in distress whom they saw leave a bathroom while bleeding from her neck and leg. She evaded staff and went outside the building.

Geneva police – Sgt. Mark Russo, Officers Dan Yates, Bob Pech and Sarah Sullivan – responded.

The Life Saving Medal is awarded for an act performed in the line of duty, which through disregard of personal safety, or prompt and alert reaction, results in the saving of a person’s life.

—  Geneva Police Department

According to a summary from Mayor Kevin Burns and a news release about the incident, the officers found her walking near Delnor’s Health and Fitness Center. But she refused their help and ran onto Randall Road where she was nearly struck by a southbound vehicle.

Russo, Yates, Peck and Sullivan ran into traffic, chased her, eventually maneuvering her against the guardrail for northbound traffic.

But the situation was far from over.

While being searched, the woman grabbed a razor blade from the waistband of her underwear, clutching it in her left hand, causing more injury to herself and putting the officers in extreme danger.

By that time, Kane County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Biddle, who was in the area, heard the call and arrived to help. Biddle got stuck with the razor blade, but his injury was minor.

Yates broke the woman’s grip on the razor blade, and police handcuffed her for her own safety and theirs.

Sullivan later found a second razor blade in the woman’s sock before transferring her care to paramedics.

For their selfless courage and bravery on Oct. 15, 2024, Police Chief Eric Passarelli presented each with a Life Saving Medal at the Jan. 6 City Council meeting.

According to the Geneva Police Department’s internal policy, the Life Saving Medal is awarded for an act performed in the line of duty, which through disregard of personal safety, or prompt and alert reaction, results in the saving of a person’s life.

“These officers made the decision to act without regard for their own safety in service to another,” Burns said.

“Fearing for the safety of the individual and disregarding their own safety, the officers ran onto the roadway ... Their quick action resolved a very dangerous situation without any injuries to the officers and provided the opportunity for this individual to receive the care and support they needed,” Burns said.

“This council, this community recognizes your extraordinary service. While this particular event is noteworthy, we know you and your colleagues provide this service every day,” Burns said. “We are grateful. We are proud to recognize you this evening.”

Passarelli said officers don’t know what they’re getting into each day when they put on the uniform come to work.

“Thanks to their skill, expertise, dedication and compassion this potentially very dangerous situation had a positive outcome,” Passarelli said. “I think this community should be extremely grateful that we have officers of this caliber serving our community each and every day.”

Russo said he was grateful to work with everyone.

“If we had not acted the way we did, it would have had a tragic outcome,” Russo said.

Yates said Geneva Community Service Officers Andrew Fletcher and Brad Koontz also assisted in blocking the roadway so officers could manage the situation.

“It was a total team effort, as it always is,” Yates said. “And we were able to keep her safe.”

This is not the first time Geneva officers risked their own safety to rescue a suicidal person. In 2022, a teen was on the Union Pacific railroad trestle, nearly 100 feet above the Fox River, threatening self-harm. He displayed two knives and threatened to hurt himself, and put his leg over the railing.

In an email, Kane Undersheriff Amy Johnson said Biddle’s bravery will be recognized at a future awards ceremony.