SPD Officer Awarded Carnegie Medal for Heroism for Rescuing Man From Oncoming Train

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Seattle, WA - A 57-year-old man experiencing a mental health crisis fell approximately 25 feet from a Seattle bridge ledge at night on Oct. 7, 2024, and landed inches from a set of railroad tracks. He laid near the metal rail of the tracks with critical injuries and was unable to move as a train approached at about 35 m.p.h.

On-duty Seattle police officer Edward K. Grimmer, 34, responded to the scene with two other officers and positioned himself on a rail platform near three parallel rail tracks just before the man fell. It was dark outside, and Grimmer did not see precisely where the man landed.

Regardless, Grimmer went across two sets of tracks before he spotted the man lying on the gravel, inches from the middle set of tracks on which the train approached.

Grimmer went to the man, grabbed him by the fabric of his hooded sweatshirt, and pulled him away from the tracks just as the train passed through. The train narrowly missed the man’s legs and Grimmer’s head by a couple feet as it took several minutes to pass.

Grimmer stayed with the man until firefighters could safely cross the tracks to treat him and took him to a hospital.

The man had several broken bones, including both arms and one leg, and facial and spinal fractures. He also had suffered trauma to his head and face from the fall. Grimmer was not injured.

Officer Grimmer is among 17 people recognized by The Carnegie Hero Fund.

According to the Hero Fund Comision, The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,510 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904.

In addition to this award, the Seattle Police Foundation and SPD awarded Officer Grimmer with the Medal of Honor, the highest award given to sworn and civilian employees.

West Precinct Commander, Captain Robert Brown, said the award “is well deserved by Officer Edward Grimmer for his selfless and heroic life-saving actions.”