Honors for three of Metro's own, dog included

Two Metro Police officers and a K-9 dog received high honors from Sheriff Jerry Keller this morning during a special ceremony commending their heroics in two incidents that ended with an infant's life saved after a car accident and an armed suspect taken into custody.

Officer James Pendleton received the department's Exemplary Service award for helping an infant breathe for a half-hour May 11 after a family's car crashed on Interstate 15 near Primm.

A report of a woman wandering through traffic had Pendleton en route to the Nevada-California state line, where he found the woman with a baby in her arms standing in a travel lane near the family's car that had wrecked in a nearby ditch.

Sensing that the woman was going into shock and the baby into apparent respiratory distress, Pendleton helped the woman open the baby's air passage before checking on the woman's husband and son who were ejected from the car and killed. Pendleton returned to the mother and child and continued rescue efforts until paramedics arrived.

The other award recipients, Officer Eric Kerns and his K-9 partner, Matjo, were able to get a barricaded suspect to come out of an apartment earlier this year during an apprehension. They were honored with the Meritorious Service award.

Kerns and Matjo were among the officers who responded to the complex April 2 after receiving a report at 6:43 p.m. that a man armed with a shotgun had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend.

Officers searched the area and were unsuccessful in finding the man. The K-9 team, however, stayed to search inside the apartment where they found two small children. Matjo's barks caused the hiding suspect to surrender, police said.

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