AMERICAN FORK — An American Fork police officer won recognition for going above and beyond in the community and changing the course of one family's life.
Officer Diego Garcia was named Officer of the Year for medium-size agencies at the recent Utah Chiefs of Police Association’s annual conference in St. George. He was honored for intervening in an attempted suicide.
Garcia has accomplished much in his four-year career as an American Fork police patrol officer.
"I pulled the mayor over. I've pulled over a couple of City Council members," he said.
Mostly, Garcia tracks down speeders and issues tickets.
"I try to be fair with people," he said.
But one day Garcia received a call that changed his routine on the road. He thought it was a "typical suicidal call," he said, but learned that it was "a little different" after meeting with the family.
That family told Garcia they had been worried their loved one would take her life, and this time, they were sure.
"(She) wrote a note on the master bedroom mirror saying her goodbyes to her husband," Garcia said.
Such calls can be difficult, he said, because there are no clues as to where the individual may have gone.
“They don’t want to be found,” Garcia said.
But there was something different about the call, he said.
"I just had a feeling this time I had to go search for this woman, and that's what I did," Garcia said.
He began driving through the city, looking for the woman's car and went to places he thought she would go. All he had was the woman’s car description and license plate. He said God led him to find the woman inside a hotel room, just in time.
"She was on the bed unconscious, still breathing. She had cut her wrists and she had photos of her family on the nightstand," Garcia said.
The woman survived and is receiving the help she needs, he said.
Garcia was chosen for one of Utah's top police awards because of his relentless effort. He humbly accepted.
"I'm proud of how I was able to help this family," he said. "However, I feel like I accepted it for the men and women I work with because they do just as good of work as I do."
Garcia recently by chance met the husband of the woman he found. He told Garcia she's doing much better, and that if it hadn't been for Garcia, she wouldn't have survived.
Email: nvowell@deseretnews.com