Mentor Corrections Officer To Receive Life-Saving Award

A Mentor corrections officer will be recognized during tonight's City Council meeting at for saving the life of a suicidal inmate.

Officer Richard Radtkin was on duty April 1 when an inmate with an addiction to heroin tried to kill himself, according to Mentor Police Chief Daniel Llewellyn.

The inmate had been admitted to the city jail on March 30 and police had no indication at the time that he harbored suicidal thoughts, Llewellyn said.

At 11:00 a.m., ten minutes after Radtkin's previous security check, he found the inmate hanging from his cell door with a blanket wrapped tightly around his neck.

When Radtkin was unable to release the blanket from the inmate’s neck on his own, he asked for help from a neighboring inmate.

They were able to untie the blanket. However, the inmate was unconscious, bleeding from the nose and the skin around his neck had turned deep blue. 

Radtkin contacted the city's dispatch center who called for Mentor paramedics. In the meantime, Radtkin also received additional help for the inmate in the jail.

The inmate was transported to Hillcrest Hospital, where he was placed on life support and listed in serious condition. But by the next day, the inmate was removed from life support, upgraded to fair condition and was expected to make a full recovery.

"C. O. Radtkin, your alert and immediate actions resulted in the saving of a life," Llewellyn wrote to Radtkin. "In recognition of your efforts, I am awarding you the Department’s Life Saving Award."

"Please accept my thanks and the thanks of the entire department," Llewellyn added.