Officer honored for saving boy, 7, from watery pit

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By WSBT News1

Story Created: Jun 24, 2009 at 9:11 AM EST

Story Updated: Jun 24, 2009 at 9:11 AM EST

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit City Council has honored a Wayne State University police officer for helping save a 7-year-old boy who fell into a water-filled hole at a construction site. A 58-year-old man drowned during the rescue.

On May 24, Officer Patrick Saunders answered a call about a child falling into a hole dug for the basement of a new house on Miracle Street. The school says Saunders found a man in the pit struggling while trying to rescue the boy.

The officer pulled the boy from the water, but the man slipped underwater. Saunders and firefighters pulled the man out, but 58-year-old Garrett Townsend was declared dead at a hospital.

The council gave Saunders the city's Distinguished Service Award.

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