OXFORD — During a City of Oxford Council meeting on Tuesday, April 18, three Oxford-area police officers were recognized for their roles in saving a life.
City of Oxford Police Officer Richard Butler was awarded the OPD Life Saving award, while City of Oxford Police Officer Mark Ledermeier and Miami University Police Officer Michael Jarvi received a Certificate of Commendation.
Officer Butler’s award consists of a medallion for display and a service bar for daily uniform wear.
The awards were presented by OPD Chief John Jones and Lieutenant Lara Fening.
Chief Jones began the ceremony by saying, “Tonight we have a great opportunity to take a chance to recognize the work that our police officers do. Tonight we’re going to give some commendations and a life saving award out. Since I’ve become Police Chief about a year ago, there have been other opportunities that we had to do this, and that is where I see room for improvement on behalf of our department is that we have failed to recognize those officers. So, we are going to try to be more consistent.”
The incident the three officers were recognize for happened on Feb. 25 at approximately 10:20 p.m. Officer Ledermeier received a field report of a fight in the area of Poplar St. and E. High St. He headed to investigate the incident and witnessed several people surrounding Bradley Bartuch, who was lying face down on the sidewalk by The Woods (a bar located at 17 N. Poplar Street.)
Officer Ledermeier exited his cruiser and witnessed Kenneth Pollard Jr. wrestle with the bar manager, Maxwell Harris. Officer Ledermeir detained Pollard Jr. and placed him in handcuffs.
Officer Butler arrived on the scene to assist Bartuch. The officer determined that Bartuch was not breathing and began to administer CPR. MUPD Officer Jarvi arrived on the scene and retrieved the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) from Officer Butler’s vehicle. The two officers deployed the AED and the device advised to continue with chest compressions.
Office Butler continued to perform chest compressions until the Oxford Life Squad arrived on the scene and took over.
Bartuch regained a pulse and was transported by the squad to McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford. He was eventually flown to the University of Cincinnati Hospital because of his injuries. Since the incident, he has fully recovered.
During these life saving efforts, Officer Ledermeier controlled the crowd, including putting Pollard Jr. in the back of the patrol vehicle due to his disruptive behavior. Natalie Pollard was impeding Officer Butler in the performance of his duties by trying to grab at Bartuch while Butler was administering CPR. As a result, she was placed in the back of an MUPD vehicle.
Both Officer Jarvi and Officer Ledermeier were presented with a Certificate of Commendation and a copy of the commendation, while Officer Butler received the OPD Life Saving Award.
Chief Jones added, “This isn’t the first time MUPD Officer Jarvi has helped us save a life. He also applied a tourniquet on a shooting victim back in the Fall. So his quick actions there helped stop that person from bleeding out. As I said, we haven’t always recognized people in the past. So I want to take this opportunity to recognize him now. He is always a vital asset.”
Officer Ledermeier has been with the OPD since 2011. Chief Jones said, “[Ledermeier] is a real asset to our department. He can run down anyone and chase them down. His actions that night in controlling the crowd basically allowed us to administer the first aid that needed to be administered.”
Officer Butler is a relatively new addition to OPD, having come to the department this past fall. “Officer Butler was the one who recognized that Bartuch needed medical assistance,” Chief Jones said. “In his first year as an OPD police officer, he has done many great things already. He will receive the Life Saving Award, which is a medallion and a service bar that he can wear on his uniform.”
All three officers also received challenge points.
