Jose L. Casanova helped to rescue a police officer from assault, Hartford, Connecticut, May 17, 2018. Responding to a complaint, a police officer, 34, was inside a female resident’s ninth-floor apartment when the resident attempted to leave, prompting a violent struggle. As they wrestled in the kitchen, the assailant obtained a kitchen knife, which she used to stab the officer multiple times about her neck. In the building’s lobby, Casanova, 32, maintenance technician, and a maintenance supervisor, neither of whom was responsible for building security, were alerted that the officer needed help. Casanova and the maintenance supervisor took an elevator to the ninth floor, where they exited into a hall leading to the apartment. In the hall, they saw that the assailant, while holding the knife, had a chokehold on the officer, who was on the floor outside the apartment. Casanova and the maintenance supervisor ran to them. Casanova seized the knife from the assailant’s hand, and the maintenance supervisor grasped the assailant’s arms and removed her from the officer. The maintenance supervisor restrained the assailant while another person tended to the officer’s wounds to stanch the bleeding until backup officers arrived. The officer survived and was hospitalized for treatment of serious wounds.
89925 – 10089
89925-10089