LMPD :: Louisville Metro Police Department
IMAGE

Officer profiled as rookie to get three awards

IMAGE
PHOTO
PHOTO

When Officer Brian Wyatt joined the Louisville Metro Police Department as a recruit in September 2003, he was ready to make a difference in his community and anxious to do a good job.

Nearly eight years later - still riding the overnight shift in southwestern Louisville - Wyatt said he's even more committed to his job, eager to connect with the community and try to make it safer.

Saturday night, at the department's annual awards banquet, Wyatt will be honored with three citations - the purple heart and two distinguished lifesaving awards.

"To me, it's not about getting medals," Wyatt said. "I like going out here and talking to people."

Wyatt, who was sworn as a police officer in March 2004, was profiled in a Courier-Journal series that documented his first year on the job as a rookie officer. During that year, Wyatt shared his perspective on experiencing many of the usual aspects of policing for the first time - using his Taser, handcuffing suspects, responding to robbery calls, writing tickets and helping those in need.

Over time, Wyatt said many of those things have become routine. Perhaps he was thinking too much about the routine on the night of Aug. 30 when he pulled up and approached a man who was being sought in connection to several car break-ins, Wyatt said.

He described getting out of his patrol car and approaching the man, who reached a couple times into his pocket, prompting Wyatt to calmly ask him to stop doing that.

When Wyatt's partner, Dale Fryrear, pulled up, he quickly noticed the suspect had a gun in the pocket he'd been reaching in.

The man struggled with the officers as they tried to subdue him and take him into custody - which led to Wyatt's hand being broken, requiring surgical pins to be inserted into his finger. For that, Wyatt is receiving the purple heart.

"He could have shot me," Wyatt said. "He had plenty of time."

Wyatt downplays the incident and said he feels a bit embarrassed that he's getting the award for a broken finger. But he said he's honored.

He will also get two lifesaving awards as well.

In one incident from February 2010, Wyatt entered a home after hearing a gunshot ring out. He found a man with a self-inflicted wound to the chest and provided medical care until EMS arrived. Because of Wyatt's actions, including cutting off the man's shirt, finding the exit wound and applying pressure to stem the bleeding, the man survived.

In a second incident on Dec. 27, Wyatt gave CPR to a man who collapsed in freezing temperatures outside an apartment building. CPR helped to restore the man's pulse until medics arrived.

Wyatt said that was the first time as an officer that he had to use CPR.

"I always worried that I would forget," he said.

Wyatt said he would prefer not to talk too much about the awards but feels humbled by them.

"I'm proud, but I don't like to be noticed," Wyatt said. "That's just the way I am."