A huge honor has been bestowed on an officer with the Delta County Sheriff's Office.

Sergeant Travis Lackey has received the 2021 American Red Cross, Western Colorado Chapter Hero of the Year award for his lifesaving efforts in July of 2020.

The Incident

According to the Delta County Sheriff's Office, it was July 31, 2020 when Sergeant Lackey and two other officers responded to a report of a suicidal man with a handgun. Police body camera video shows the officers approaching a man and a woman while the woman pleads with the man to put the gun down.

As officers approached, the man raised the handgun to his head, at which point Sergeant Lackey immediately tackled the man and disarmed him. Lackey's efforts saved the life of the man, and potentially the life of the man's wife as well. Following the incident, Lackey is reported to have demonstrated compassion to the man's wife offering assurance that her husband would receive the help he needed.

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The Story Doesn't End There

Sometime later, the Delta County Sheriff's Office received a letter from the troubled man expressing his appreciation for Sergeant Lackey's life-saving efforts that day. The man expressed thankfulness because he was able to attend his granddaughter's wedding rather than his family having to deal with a tragedy.

This past October, Sergeant Lackey was honored with the Sheriff's Office Lifesaving Award for his efforts and now has received the Red Cross award for Hero of the Year.

So many times it seems stories like these end in tragedy, and to the general public are nothing more than another incident on the local police blotter regardless of the outcome. Thankfully, this story did not end tragically thanks to Sergeant Lackey, whose quick thinking had a tremendous impact on a local family. Sergeant Lackey is truly a hometown hero.

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