Hum Duchannes receives the Citizen Medal of Valor Award June 23. (Photo courtesy TPD)
TAMPA | The Tampa Police Department awarded Hum Duchannes with the Citizen Medal of Valor June 23 after the Land O’ Lakes resident saved a child’s life earlier this year.
The recognition is TPD’s highest honor recognizing non-departmental members and citizens. Recipients are those who have displayed “extreme courage or heroism during a police action in an effort to provide protection or preservation of life.”
It stems from March 13, when Duchannes — who identifies as “within and beyond” the LGBTQ+ spectrum — says they were having “a normal day” with a friend. The two were sitting on a park bench in Tampa when Duchannes heard a four-year-old child screaming.
Their friend heard only construction, Duchannes says, but notes “I just knew that there was something else going on.” Moving toward the sound, they eventually saw a boy hanging from an apartment building’s fifth-story window.
“I felt as though time froze, and before my mind could catch up my body was already moving,” they recall. “I had kicked my shoes off, the objects in my hands went flying — my phone, keys, vapes — all meaningless.
“I knew that I could do something to change the way that the story was being told,” Duchannes continues. People had begun to gather, calling 911 and screaming for the child to hold tight. That’s when they “placed myself directly under the child, ready to catch him with nothing but my body and soul.”
Officials say the child lost his grip not long after.
“I reached out and caught him bridal style,” they recall. “As I absorbed the force of the fall, I felt as if I had caught a star … He was saved, and I would pay the cost a million times over.”
The incident left Duchannes with tendonitis in their left shoulder, broken capillaries in their arms, bruised knees and a sprained ankle. They’ve mostly recovered physically but are still navigating the psychological and emotional aspects of the incident.
That’s because they “knew that he was not dead, only that he could be.” Duchannes notes “it was a lot to hold, and far more to release.”
TPD noted that falling from such a height is almost always fatal and that catching someone in that situation is also very dangerous. It’s why they honored Duchannes.
“When a child’s life hung in the balance, Hum Duchannes answered the call, not as an officer, but as a compassionate member of our community,” Tampa Chief of Police Lee Bercaw tells Watermark Out News. He says the department was proud to recognize the hero.
“This bravery reinforces our efforts to partner with the community to make Tampa safer and improve quality of life, together,” Bercaw adds. “We are honored to celebrate those who, like Hum Duchannes, demonstrate such profound bravery in protecting the most vulnerable among us.”
Sergeant Christie Shiver, TPD’s liaison for the LGBTQ+ community, adds that “Hum’s selfless act reminds us all that bravery can come out of every corner of our community.
“As TPD’s LGBT liaison, I am especially moved by this recognition,” she continues. “It truly highlights our department’s commitment to creating a safe, inclusive environment where everyone feels empowered to act with courage, just like Hum did.”
Duchannes hopes to reconnect with the child but has yet to do so. They say there’s an open investigation into the matter preventing their reunion.
They also note they didn’t seek out the recognition, a strange feeling, and that “in many ways, I didn’t want it.”
“I didn’t do what I did for an award or praise,” they explain. “I did it because it was the right thing to do … I was simply being what anyone who loves others and life itself would be.”
Duchannes does hope the experience serves as a lesson for others. They say we all “have the power to change the way the story is being told.”
Read more and view photos from TPD’s ceremony below:
