The elderly woman lived alone and had not been heard from in days.
When Minneapolis police officers Gerald Karpe and James Kelley banged on her door for a standard welfare check in August, they detected a faint voice calling out for help. The partners carefully breached the door and located the woman on the floor inside, where she'd apparently been lying trapped amid hoarded items for several days.
Karpe and Kelley worked to carefully clear a path through the debris so paramedics could treat her, Sgt. Garrett Parten said in presenting them a Lifesaving Award on Tuesday afternoon.
"There's a high probability that this woman would not have survived another day," he noted, lauding their compassion on the call.
The officers were among several dozen honorees, both sworn and civilian, who were recognized for going above and beyond the call of duty at the department's semiannual ceremony.
Among those honored were cops who successfully intervened during attempted suicides, officers who applied tourniquets to a critically wounded stabbing victim and those who effectively de-escalated tense encounters without resorting to physical force.
"Policing is a noble profession, but it's certainly not an easy one," Chief Brian O'Hara told a roomful of supporters. "Every day police officers in this city confront what most people do not — anger, hatred, vitriol, fears and violence."
Paul Portenlanger, a civilian, also won a lifesaving award for springing into action when a friend dropped unconscious while they were running together in September. Portenlanger performed CPR for six minutes until EMS arrived. Paramedics credited his "quick and effective care" for saving the man's life.
