Life Saving Incident
June 21, 2019
New Hampshire
Rockingham County
Portsmouth
Portsmouth police officer Thompson “T.J.” Potter was recognized with a Life Saving Medal Award for planning the rescue of a toddler trapped under a 400-pound boulder. The Life Saving Medal was presented during a meeting of the Police Commission to recognize Officer Potter’s role during the June 21, 2019 rescue. Chief of Police Robert Merner said the boy Officer Potter helped free from beneath the boulder is “doing fantastic’ and is “expected to fully recover.” Police Sergeant Kuffer Kaltenborn previously told the Portsmouth Herald that Officer Potter was a crucial member of the response team when the boy was trapped under the boulder at a Little Harbor Road residence. He said Officer Potter’s prior experience as a stone mason was helpful in knowing how to execute the boy’s rescue, which was accomplished in about nine minutes. Potter said the 400-pound rock was on the boy’s head, held back from crushing it by one rock, a keystone. “If that moved,” he said, “this would have gone a totally different way.” A team of responders lifted the rock and the boy was freed, said police.
The history of law enforcement in the United States is a long and wonderful history of bravery. This website is dedicated to documenting the heroic deeds of law enforcement officers throughout the United States who have either given or risked their lives to save others. There are many stories of bravery and heroism for many who are considered first responders. However, it is those in law enforcement who are most likely to be the first to arrive upon a location requiring life saving acts engaging dangerous hostage takers, running into burning buildings/vehicles, providing first aid to seriously injured victims, saving near drowning victims and much more are what the women and men of law enforcement do routinely and at many times, great peril to their own safety.
It is our mission to document the history of lives saved by those dedicated women and men in law enforcement. To share with others the dramatic deeds of those individuals who are the first, first responders. It is so important for our citizens to understand that law "enforcement" is not always about enforcing the law but rather being there when our citizens need us.
It is to this end we are dedicated to promoting documentation regarding the history of law enforcement and the lives they have saved.
