Thursday, August 5, 2010

Recognizing a brave man who saved another's life


On Tuesday, I presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Greg Cork, a man who did something extraordinarily brave to save the life of a stranger. Here's his story:

Main Street Community Improvement District maintenance attendant Greg Cork literally threw himself under the bus to save a stranger’s life on November 1, 2009.


A Metro bus had just let passengers off at about 3:30 p.m. that day on Main at 39th Street. One of the men who got off was wearing a bicycle helmet because he was prone to seizures. Mr. Cork saw that man stumble and fall beneath the rear wheel of the bus, but the driver did not see this and began to pull forward. With no regard for his own welfare, Mr. Cork dove under the bus and pulled out the man who had fallen. He pulled the man out of his helmet, and as soon as he did, it was crushed by the wheel of the bus. Passengers on the bus then realized what was happening and began screaming for the driver to stop.

The man suffered a severely fractured jaw but was treated and eventually released from an area hospital. Mr. Cork came out unscathed. Sergeant Greg Manning said Mr. Cork’s extraordinarily brave actions saved the life of the man who fell under the bus that day, and he took them even though he was putting himself in jeopardy.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org