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The Arlington County Police Department issued the following announcement on Sept. 7.
On August 23, 2021, the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police & Foundation presented Corporal D. Bennett with the Association's highest honor, the Award for Valor, for heroism displayed in the face of an imminent threat. Please join ACPD in congratulating Corporal Bennett on this well-deserved recognition.
On December 30, 2019, Arlington County Police responded to a armed bank robbery and arrested a man on the Courthouse Metro platform. Corporal Bennett was standing between the handcuffed man and the train tracks, about seven yards away, when the arrestee bolted towards the tracks and an oncoming train.
Corporal Bennett instinctively reached out, but the arrestee's momentum was enough to keep the man moving toward the oncoming train. The arrestee fought, but Corporal Bennett managed to pull him down with the train about 10 yards away.
Other officers rushed over, and both Corporal Bennett and the arrestee were pulled to safety as the train buzzed by, inches away. The arrestee suffered no injury and subsequently was taken to jail.
Corporal Bennett did not know in the moment, but the collision and subsequent fall had caused a fracture in the tibia behind his right knee, an injury that would force him onto light duty for a month. Had the arrestee's momentum carried both men onto the tracks, it is possible that both men could have been crushed by the train.
Original source can be found here.
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