For Brett Bailes, it's simply the golden rule.
Jumping to save three people from a fiery crash caused by a drunk driver is no faint task, but that’s what Bailes along with Chris Holbeck and Dennis Wilson did in February 2016.
"It's something anyone of us would have hoped anyone would have done for us,” Bailes said.
We didn’t plan on doing that – that day, Wilson says, it happened and we had what it took to get it done.
All three men didn’t know at the time, they were helping some of their neighbors at the crash scene near 50th and Blondo streets.
Now, the men share something in common with Omaha Ofc. Robbie Goering-Jensen: all formally received their Carnegie Medals for acts of extraordinary civilian heroism.
For Goering-Jensen, he dashed into a house near 30th Street and Martin Avenue filled with thick smoke and high flames multiple times to pull people out back in December 2015. He also had a recruit with him during their field-training when he went into rescue mode.
“I was just out there doing a job,” Goering-Jensen says. “I was just privileged to be able to help someone out in a time of need.”
On Monday, Gov. Pete Ricketts joined city and police personnel at police headquarters to hand out the awards.
One of the crash victims, Erin Sorensen, cheered on her heroes during the ceremony.
"Some people when they see a situation like that – would run from it,” she says. “But they did everything they could to run to it."
