Rescuer Ewu’S T.J. Puckett Honored For Pulling Distraught Woman From Sixth-Floor Railing

When T.J. Puckett saw a woman standing on the wrong side of a sixthfloor railing, he acted on instinct.

Puckett, a freshman at Eastern Washington University, had been patrolling on bicycle around the campus May 1 as part of his volunteer duties with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office when he saw several students looking up at the Streeter Residence Hall.

On the sixth floor, a young woman seemed ready to jump. She was facing out, standing with her back to the railing of a small balcony.

Puckett could see she was crying.

“I was thinking, `Where is everyone who is supposed to be helping her?”’ he said.

That’s when he sprang into action.

Puckett, a volunteer with SCOPE - Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort - patrols the campus in the evenings, looking for anything that might interest university police.

This time, though, he took it upon himself to help the woman, whose name was not released.

“I didn’t know whether I should talk to her or just grab her,” he said.

Gently, Puckett told her that he was coming up from behind and would put his arms around her.

She agreed, and he pulled her over the rail to safety. Then she collapsed, crying.

Student hall advisers comforted the girl and called for help. After he was sure she was in good hands and police were on the way, Puckett slipped away unnoticed.

He went home, bone tired from the exertion, stress and adrenalin.

“This was like a brand-new experience for me,” he said.

He may have gotten away from the scene without much attention, but he couldn’t escape May 7, when he was awarded a Certificate of Merit by EWU President Steven Jordan during a small ceremony at the school.

The 18-year-old was red in the face afterward.

“It’s kind of embarrassing to have so many people here just for me,” he said. “I think the community advisers did the real work.”

However, Puckett’s patrol supervisor, EWU police officer Dennis Hauenstein, said Puckett deserves all the credit he’s received.

“Based on what I know about the woman, she would have gone off the balcony had he not intervened,” he said. “She might have jumped, or even fell off.”

Puckett is from Helena, where his parents, Alan and Sandra Puckett, still live.