Star Cpl. Franklin Gallob and Cpl. Robert Smith of the Hinesville Police Department have received the Distinguished Service Award for their roles in saving a gunshot victim’s life.
Hinesville police Chief George Stagmeier presented the awards during a brief ceremony in the police station Wednesday.
Police Lt. Thomas Ovitt said during the ceremony that Gallob and Smith responded to the report of a man who had been shot and was lying unresponsive on the ground in the 100 block of Point South Drive at 1:06 a.m. April 20. Gallob said in an interview that the man, Jaron Moore, had been robbed at gunpoint.
Ovitt said Moore was shot in his vehicle and tried to crawl about 30 feet toward the front stairs of his apartment. Moore was in shock — bleeding profusely from his thigh because the bullet hit his femoral artery — when the officers arrived.
Moore’s roommate came out and was wearing a belt, so Gallob asked him for it. Moore’s roommate gave Gallob the belt, and he used it as a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding, according to Ovitt.
That was enough to keep Moore alive for the one to two minutes it took paramedics to respond and stabilize him before he was flown to Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.
Gallob said Moore eventually recovered.
When he received the award Wednesday, Gallob said it was “humbling.”
“You join this profession to help people, and to be able to have a hand in helping somebody be alive and still be with us today is a humbling experience,” he said. “It makes me happy to do what I do and to be able to help, absolutely.”
Stagmeier said he is proud of Gallob and Smith.
“It certainly is a pleasure and an honor to award these two guys, two officers, the Distinguished Service Award for saving a citizen’s life,” Stagmeier said. “As the chief, it certainly is something that’s dear to me, and I’m proud of them for doing it.”
In a Facebook post, Gallob credited Hinesville Fire Department Capt. Robert Kitchings with providing medical training to police officers, including Gallob.
“Many other first responders assisted in helping,” Gallob wrote. “It is always a team effort.”