St. Charles police officers honored for saving lives

ST. CHARLES – A St. Charles police sergeant and two officers this week were honored for saving the lives of two people.

St. Charles Police Sgt. Roger Anderson, as well as St. Charles Officers Ryan Beeter and Steve Heike, received the St. Charles Police Department’s Life Saving Award.

St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan on Monday handed the men their awards during a presentation at the St. Charles City Council meeting. The people whose lives were saved also attended the presentations, and they and the officers received standing ovations from the audience.

Sgt. Anderson on March 11 responded to the 400 block of North Avenue in St. Charles for a report of an unresponsive person in a vehicle. Anderson found a man not breathing and began CPR while paramedics were in route. The man eventually responded to the administered care and survived, Keegan said.

“His quick and decisive actions were no doubt the difference in this situation,” Keegan said of Anderson.

Less than a week before that incident, Community Service Officer Beeter on March 5 was near Prairie Street and Randall Road in St. Charles when he observed a woman who might be choking. When Beeter caught up to the woman, he saw she was unconscious and not breathing, Keegan said.

Heike arrived to the scene, and he and Beeter performed life-saving efforts until paramedics arrived to dislodge a piece of food from the woman’s airway, Keegan said.

“Both [officers] are to be commended,” Keegan said.