Each year, the Kiwanis Club of Alexandria recognizes a police officer who has done something extraordinary in the line of duty. This year, the club honored two such heroes, Ryan Wells and Patrick Taylor.
Wells and Taylor were on duty on Feb. 21, 2007, when they received a call from a distraught woman who said her husband had stabbed himself, attempting to commit suicide. Chief David Baker told members of the Kiwanis Club the rest of the story.
The man had left his home and his wife did not know where he had gone, Baker said. Through investigation, Officers Wells and Taylor discovered that the man had driven to a nearby shopping center. They found him in his car, with a can of gasoline and a knife.
As the officers tried to talk to him, he poured the gasoline on himself and held a lighter as if he were going to set himself on fire. It was definitely a life-threatening situation, Baker said.
When the man refused to get out of the car, one of the officers broke the cars window. The man left his vehicle and pulled the knife. The officers were eventually able to take the knife from the man and take him into custody without anyone being further harmed.
I dont think we did anything special, Wells said. We were just doing our job like any other officer would have done. Still, its nice to be recognized.
Taylor agreed. We got really good training and when you have that and two guys like Ryan and me working together, good things happen. I cant tell you how much it means to me to be recognized, even if it is just for doing our jobs, he said.