Life Saving Incident

When Tulsa police officer Robin Mendenhall arrived at the scene of a shooting in October 2005, a woman was lying outside an apartment complex and the gunman was in range. Officer Mendenhall crawled through the back window of an apartment, suffering injuries from smashing the glass, then went through the front door of the apartment and, in view of the gunman, dragged the woman inside to safety. The victim had been shot nine times. Nine hours later, with the victim in a hospital, the gunman surrendered. Everyone lived to see another day. On May 3, 2007, Officer Mendenhall was awarded the Outstanding Commissioned Officer for 2007 by the Oklahoma Women in Law Enforcement organization in recognition for saving the woman. Officer Mendenhall said she wouldn't have been able to save the woman if not for other Tulsa police officers. "I put faith in them that if he came out shooting, they'd shoot back,” said Mendenhall, the daughter of a retired firefighter. "It took everything I had to drag her inside.” Officer Mendenhall received a medal of valor from the Tulsa Police Department for her work. Her only regret is that her mother, a retired Sand Springs school teacher, couldn't be in Oklahoma City for Thursday's program. But that's because her mother was receiving the Everyday Hero Award from the American Red Cross.