Perry Hall Top Cop Honored at White House

No police pursuit or major arrest compares to the feeling of saving a life, says Michael B. Forish, a Perry Hall resident and Pikesville police officer. 

Shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Oct. 31, Forish, joined by officers Michael Gerard Lynch and Zachary J. Small, pulled a man out of a . The man was paralyzed from the waist down and the house was already engulfed in flames. 

"We went in without hesitation," said Forish, 34. "We did what any officer would have done." 

The heroic circumstances of the rescue brought the officers to the White House for the Top Cops awards ceremony of the National Association of Police Organizations last week.

"A moment came when their actions earned recognition. It wasn’t talk; it was what they did," President Barack Obama said during his Rose Garden speech. "Think about the strong stuff that takes."

"It was great meeting the president and the vice president," Forish said. "Shaking the president's hand was incredible." 

Still, months after the incident, he said the greatest reward was returning safely to his family—his wife, Amie, and daughters, 4-year-old Emily and 2-year-old Aubrie. 

"I remember going home and hugging my wife and kids and thanking God for keeping us safe that morning and putting us in the right place at the right time," Forish said. 

Forish provided Patch the following detailed account of the rescue:

Upon arriving, the upstairs of the house was fully engulfed in flames. I proceeded to tell dispatch this and told her to send more units fast and that there was a male subject trapped inside.  

Upon talking to the mid 20's male on the porch, we learned that his father was paralyzed from his waist down. I remember Ofc. Small and Ofc. Lynch showing up and Ofc. Small yelled inside the house, at which time we heard a faint cry for help.  

Prior to going inside I asked dispatch for a 10-3 (to clear the air of any radio transmissions) and advised that there was one trapped inside and we were going in.  

Upon entering we were encountered by thick smoke, very hot conditions and low levels of light. We worked our way upstairs and I saw this male subject lying on the floor and attempted to pick him up and put his arms around my shoulder.

His skin immediately sluffed off in my hands and on my uniform shirt. Both myself and Ofc. Small gloved up at this time and proceeded to carry him to the steps. Ofc. Lynch grabbed a garden hose, which the wife was trying to fight the fire with and assisted us by squirting parts of the fire so that we were not harmed. Once we were able to bring the male to the steps, Ofc. Lynch assisted in carrying him out.

I remember halfway down the steps hearing glass shatter and wood breaking and the only thing I was thinking was, "Please God, don't let the roof cave in on us or the floor." It was the most eerie feeling and reminded me of something out of a movie.  

Once we got him outside, we noticed that his shirt was melted to his skin. At this point, we waited for the medics to arrive. They had to cut his clothes off and fly him to Johns Hopkins Burn Center by way of Medivac.

I remember at the end, just standing there with Ofc. Small and Ofc. Lynch and just staring at the house in shock and awe and thinking to myself, "Wow, we just did that! We just saved a human life!"

No police pursuit or major arrest can compare to the feeling that we felt that night. I remember going home and hugging my wife and kids and thanking God for keeping us safe that morning and putting us in the right place at the right time.