Daniel Hernandez
Public Safety Officer
Marquette University
Daniel Hernandez has been a Marquette public safety officer for three years. Hernandez previously spent nine years serving in the United States Marine Corps; time, which he says helped prepare him for what happened on Aug. 20.
Hernandez reported to the scene of an accident that had occurred between a school bus and an SUV near downtown Milwaukee. Both vehicles were severely damaged, and both were smoking.
“It appeared that the SUV had collided with the front end of the bus,” he said. “I positioned my squad to block oncoming traffic and called for backup; telling my department to call the police and the fire department.”
Hernandez first pried the door open on the bus, not knowing exactly what he would find.
According to Hernandez, he first helped a small boy who looked pretty badly hurt and was bleeding. He then returned to the smoking bus to help the bus driver. After he got the two passengers to safety, Hernandez entered the smoking bus a third time to check for other passengers.
“I checked every row just to make sure nobody else was in there; that was the last thing I wanted,” he said.
He left the bus through the emergency exit in the rear, and noticed that flames had engulfed the SUV. Police later confirmed the driver had died.
Larry Rickard, chief of Marquette Department of public safety nominated Hernandez for the award.
“He took charge and remained calm during the whole situation,” Rickard said. “His humility in insisting that he was merely doing his job is remarkable. It is true Danny was doing his job. This day though, his job involved risking his own life to save that of a woman, and a young boy. Danny exemplifies what we look for in a public safety officer: compassion, courage, and the ability to remain calm in the most stressful situations. He is really a huge asset to our department.”
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