From Deseret News archives:
Lawmakers honor selfless heroes
Lieutenant, sergeant, civilian recognized for their valiant acts
Orem Lt. Phil Murphy received a Purple Heart for being shot in the left shoulder April 17 when he and a sergeant responded to a domestic violence call.
The two officers decided to arrest a man who was reported to have been choking a woman. The man resisted, and during the struggle, the man managed to grab the sergeant's holstered gun and get a shot off.
No one was injured.
The officers pinned the man down, and he began resisting again. Murphy pepper-sprayed the man, who fought more and grabbed Murphy's gun and shot him.
A nearby officer Tasered the man, and he was arrested. Murphy has since recovered and is working as a watch commander.
The Medal of Valor went to Beaver County Sheriff's Sgt. Cody Black for his role in stopping a suicidal driver who had run a roadblock on May 5.
The man's vehicle's tires had been spiked during a police chase on I-15, and as the vehicle entered the freeway's offramp, he was driving about 100 mph. Black was stationed at the bottom of the offramp and maneuvered his vehicle to block the driver.
It was lunchtime, and children were being let out of school to go home.
The fleeing vehicle struck Black's patrol vehicle at 50 mph, and Black continued to maneuver so the suspect couldn't get by. Eventually, the man's car stalled and he was arrested.
"We don't commonly ask people to step in harm's way," said Murray officer Aaron Rosen, spokesman for the Utah Peace Officers Association.
But J.C. Mickelson, Citizen's Certificate of Merit of Appreciation, did just that when he saw a man walking down I-15 near Nephi on July 12.
The man was armed and an hour earlier had brandished a gun at a Nephi resident, who called police.
Mickelson slowed down on the freeway and the man pointed the gun at him and put it in his waistband. Mickelson asked if that was a gun the man had.
"Yes," came the reply.
"Let me see it," Mickelson said.
The man handed the gun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic handgun, to Mickelson.
Then police arrived and arrested the man.
E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com
