Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Suttles and Jacksonville Police Officer Andrew Haas were presented with Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) awards on Saturday, December 10 in Springfield for recent incidents in the Jacksonville area, one in which a motorist’s life was saved, as well as two unrelated incidents involving major drug-related seizures.
FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood, who presented the awards, says both officers’ “quick and decisive actions not only saved the life of the driver but also protected other motorists who could have been harmed by an out-of-control vehicle.”
On October 27 Deputy Suttles had to perform a forced crash maneuver on an unresponsive motorist’s vehicle that was careening out of control down a Jacksonville area road.
Suttles had to forcibly enter the locked vehicle to pull the motorist out, then Officer Haas performed life-saving CPR on the driver. The driver was taken to an area hospital and is recovering from what doctors termed a “widow-maker” heart attack.
Suttles and Haas each received the FOP Life Saving Award for stopping the runaway car and restoring the driver’s heartbeat.
Suttles also received two FOP Meritorious Service Awards for his two large drug-related seizures within two weeks after assisting the motorist.
In two separate traffic stop incidents, Deputy Suttles seized $578,530 in alleged illegal drug money in early November and 30 pounds of illegal marijuana worth $75,000 in mid-November.
The seizures both occurred in the Jacksonville area.