2 Tribal officers honored for saving lives
By Terry Murry on Thursday, October 2nd, 2025 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
MISSION – Two Umatilla Tribal Police Department officers recently received commendations for actions they took that saved lives in two separate incidents. They are Officer Ryan Bernards and Officer Paul Heimbach.
Bernards received his commendation during the Pendleton Round-Up. UTPD reports that while he was patrolling the Teepee Village on Sept. 13, a group of children told him a baby was choking inside the village. He followed the children and performed a finger sweep to dislodge the object in the baby’s throat. The baby began to breathe and Bernards stayed on the scene until medical personnel arrived.
Bernards joined UTPD on Aug. 18 after 10 years with the La Grande Police Department. He said he was just doing what was appropriate given the situation and was impressed by the children who sought his help.
“They provided only the needed information and led me to the infant,” he said. “Once it was obvious the child was receiving oxygen, I gave the child back to the mother and we monitored the child until paramedics arrived.”
Bernards said he believes the child is fine. Paramedics took the infant to St. Anthony Hospital for evaluation.
Heimbach, who has been with the UTPD for five years, received his commendation for helping resuscitate an elderly man involved in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 84 near Milepost 224. He was called to assist the Oregon State Police and arrived to find an unresponsive man in the driver’s seat.
He removed the man from the vehicle and performed CPR for 10 minutes while waiting on troopers and an ambulance to arrive. Once paramedics were on the scene, Heimbach assisted with the landing of LifeFlight to transport the driver to the hospital.
“My thoughts on helping the driver were that I would do everything I could to help the man until either more help arrived or I was physically unable to continue,” he said. “The public depends on police and fire to come to their aid in their time of need. To give up prematurely or not give every available ounce of effort would be letting down the public, and that was not an option.”
