Richards Student Praised For Helping Injured Man At Elks Club

OAK LAWN, IL — The Elks Club of Oak Lawn is hailing a Chicago Ridge teen for saving an older lodge member from disaster after he fell down and injured himself in the parking lot. The teen was given a commendation from the Chicago Ridge Village Board. Members of the Elks Club chipped in for a one-hundred dollar gift card for Porter Harris, a junior at Richards High School.

Harris happened to spot the man lying between two cars with a head injury while passing by the lodge on Aug. 18. The lodge member, described as a retired fire captain in his eighties, had fallen fumbling for his keys to his car. He fell between cars and was bleeding from a head wound, unseen by passing traffic.

A fellow Elks Club member saw the student trying to get members’ attention on the security monitor. The building’s front door is kept locked and visitors must be buzzed in.

“Porter was doing jumping jacks and banging on the door,” lodge member Brian Guerin said. “It took Porter awhile to get our attention.”

Guerin and fellow lodge member Dan Johnson ran out to the lot where they found the older man bleeding from a head wound. They put a sweatshirt under his head and called 911.

“If Porter hadn’t of come by we wouldn't have found him for a couple of hours,” Johnson said.

Harris is a member of Richards’ ROTC. Johnson, a major in the U.S. Army, gave the student a challenge pin.