ANDOVER — North Andover police Officer Daniel Lanen dived into a murky pond in his uniform, searching for a drowning victim on the Fourth of July five minutes before anyone else got there.
Lawrence firefighter Thomas Baggett ran into a burning building down the street from his home while off-duty, trying desperately to get his neighbors, a mother and son, out of the blaze.
Last night, these men and many others were honored for their dedication last year during the Exchange Club's annual Public Safety Awards banquet at the Wyndham Andover hotel. The ceremony honors police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians in Andover, North Andover and Lawrence.
"It's not often we get to recognize the fine men and women who serve us on a daily basis," Andover police Chief Brian Pattullo told the audience of more than 200.
In both Lanen's and Baggett's cases, the victims they tried to save did not make it, but public safety officials said it wasn't from a lack of heroism on their part.
Lanen, a 21-year police officer and selectman, said he didn't think twice when diving into Sharpner's Pond to find Udin Salazar-Lopez.
"You do what you have to do," he said. "That's all."
Baggett, a Lawrence firefighter since 2001, said he also was just doing his job when he rushed into the home of Linda and Sean Cahalane in November. "Anybody would have done the same thing," he said.
Also recognized for outstanding public safety:
Andover police officers Timothy Hagerty and Daniel Leonard responded to a domestic disturbance involving a man armed with a knife on Feb. 8. The officers were able to subdue the combative man and arrest him without resorting to using their guns.
Andover firefighters Eric Teichert, Scott Weightman, Robert Dalton and Kyle Murphy, and fire Lt. William Loehr saved Pastor Lyndon Myers of Andover Baptist Church who had a heart attack at the YMCA gym Dec. 28.
Determining there was no time to wait for a lifeboat, Lawrence police Officer Tim Dube jumped into a swiftly moving Merrimack River on June 20 with a life ring to save a man who jumped off the Duck Bridge.
North Andover firefighters Rob Hardacre, Jon Pramas, Dave Hebert and Bill Golan, and fire Lt. Sean Fountain saved a family of three whose canoe capsized in Stevens Pond on April 26.
Patriot Ambulance emergency medical technicians Holly Hunt, Erin Gallagher, Jason Lucier, and paramedics Matthew Brown and Robert Branchaud and supervisor Shawn Ormiston saved men with multiple gunshot wounds on Exchange Street Nov. 8.
