CENTERVILLE— motorists were recently recognized by the Centerville Police Department for their Sept. 26, 2024 efforts in helping a suicidal man who had crashed his car on I-15 near Parrish Lane.

Lauren Webb of Ogden and Brionna Kosec of Roy were traveling northbound on I-15 at 5:30 a.m. that day when they observed the distressed man who was trying to run into freeway traffic. They had to physically restrain him for about five minutes while waiting for officers to arrive. After Centerville Officer Dalton Groen arrived on the scene they aided him in keeping the man who was still trying to run into traffic safe until other officers arrived.

At an April 1 city council meeting Centerville Police Chief Allen Ackerson showed recorded footage from the incident.

“They see a cloud of dust off to the right. A car had driven off the road and flipped over rolled,” he narrated. “They stopped to help.” 

The individual climbed out of his car and was obviously hurt, Ackerson said.  “He’s got some type of head injury and is maybe a little manic.”

It quickly became clear to the two women that the man was still intent on suicide, he said. “In fact I think he makes this statement to the effect of ‘My intent is to die today.”

As Kosec and Webb continued to struggle with him the man kept trying to climb over the jersey barrier to run in front of semi trucks on the freeway.  

‘This whole time Brionna and Lauren are fighting with him and holding him, physically restraining him,” until Kosec was able to make a call to 911, the chief said.

Even after Groen attempted to restrain the man he continued to fight and “Brionna and Lauren actually had to jump back in and help again to restrain him” until a Woods Cross officer could get there to help, Ackerson said. 

“You can see in the video our citizens here were completely exhausted after fighting with this guy in an attempt to save his life,” Ackerson said.

Once the situation was resolved the case was turned over to the Utah Highway Patrol and officers were able to escort the individual to obtain medical help and to mental health services, Ackerson reported. 

When the Centerville Police Department Awards Committee heard about the incident they determined to honor the heroism of the two women who put themselves in danger that day. 

“They felt strongly that Lauren and Brionna should be recognized for their heroic actions that day and their selfless actions where they put themselves in danger,” Ackerson said. “To fight with someone on the side of the freeway and someone who’s trying to get into traffic, it’s very humbling to have these people in our city passing through and helping out.”

“We never expected (nor wanted) anything to come out of helping save a man’s life on our own,” Kosec posted April 8 on Facebook about the incident. “We don’t know how we held this manic, dazed, extremely suicidal man back from running into the road, full on wresting him for at least 5 minutes while he lunged at every semi in the closest lane, but we did it and were able to help the officers when they needed it.” 

Webb and Kosec were presented with framed Centerville PD challenge coins, patches and recognition certificates that evening.

Mayor Clark Wilkinson thanked the two women.

“Those are stories that are well worth hearing for sure,” he said.