BC Alumnus Earns Lifesaving Award
Bluefield College alumnus Travis Archer of Cornelius, North Carolina, was awarded the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s 2018 Lifesaving Award for his heroics in responding to a recent traffic accident.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) presents awards to its employees who differentiate themselves through courageous activities and exceptional execution or administration. The award Archer received recognizes employees who save human lives.
According to WBTV in Charlotte, the accident related to Archer’s award started with a crime spree involving five juveniles who had allegedly broken into several cars in the University City area of Charlotte. According to officers interviewed by WBTV, the juveniles allegedly stole one of the cars, later identified by a CMPD license plate reader, and a police chase ensued.
“I was at The Plaza and Eastway on a separate call for service,” recalled Archer in his interview with WBTV. “They advised that the vehicle was headed toward Sugar Creek. As I reached Sugar Creek, they said the vehicle had just turned on to Sugar Creek, and that’s when I saw the vehicle. It made a U-turn and came back toward me. When I made my U-turn, that’s when the accident happened.”
Archer told WBTV that the suspects’ car accelerated and the driver in the car hit another vehicle coming through the intersection, which had a green light. The impact pushed the vehicle off the road and down an embankment.
“I could see the lady,” Archer told WBTV about his first view of the wrecked car. “She was taking the small children out of the vehicle. When I asked if they were okay, she said ‘yes,’ and I turned my attention back to the other vehicle. I knew that the guy was still in the driver’s seat, but he wouldn’t get out. He told me he was stuck.”
Archer told WBTV that as he started helping the suspect get out of his car, another officer alerted him to the fact that there was a fire in the car’s engine.
“I recognized right away that he’s a kid, he’s in a burning vehicle, and we had to get him out of there,” said Archer. “I don’t think he realized the car was on fire. He just kept telling me he couldn’t get out.”
With the help of the other officer, Archer extracted the kid from the burning car.
“Everything happened so fast,” he told WBTV. “The response by the officers was amazing. We caught six suspects within a matter of minutes. That doesn’t happen very often.”