The Norridge Village Board recently awarded police officer David Drwal the Meritorious Conduct Award for his heroic acts that helped save a life.
On a cold February evening, Drwal was on routine duty when an emergency call came in, requesting backup in the Schiller Woods, Drwal said.
Responding to the forest preserve Feb. 10 to help fellow officers, Drwal wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he knew someone needed help.
The 29-year-old officer met up with officers from the Schiller Park Police Department and followed the sounds of a woman screaming for help about just after dusk. The 30-year-old Chicago woman had been running through the woods when she fell through the frozen Des Plaines River, hidden under a thick fall of snow near Irving Park Road, Drwal said.
Together with officers from Schiller Park, Drwal waded into the freezing water.
“I wasn’t planning on going into the water, but when you hear someone screaming for help, you just keep going,” he said.
The officers found the woman perched on a small dam like structure.
She jumped in and swam to waiting officers. Once she was safe in the arms of an officer, she was taken for immediate medical treatment.
Drwal and the other officers were taken to area hospitals to be treated for hypothermia. Drwal was treated at Presence Resurrection Medical Center.
“The warming up was the worst part, I’d never experience such extreme cold before,” Drwal said. “But nobody lost any limbs and nobody was seriously injured.”
Drwal’s decision to plunge into the frigid waters did not go unnoticed.
Village President Jim Chmura and Police Chief David Disselhorst recognized him during a May 8 Village Board meeting.
“What he did was something special and he helped save a life,” said Chmura. “I’m very proud of him and I’m very proud of the police force.”
Disselhorst said the members of the department are equally proud.
“He is an example of all of the officers in our department who are willing to sacrifice for our community,” said the chief.
Drwal, who joined the department in 2015 after graduating from Illinois State University, has a track record for heroism.
In February 2018, Drwal and another officer responded to a report of a man stabbed five times at the BP gas station on Montrose and Harlem avenues. As the other officer applied a tourniquet to the man’s wounds, Drwal administered CPR.
In both situations, Drwal, the father of a 2-year-old boy, said he was happy to have the support of his department behind him and was thrilled to be honored by the village.
“You don’t do this job for the recognition, police officers are here to help, but it feels to good to be recognized for something good,” said Drwal. “It makes you feel like the whole community has your back.”
