‘You are the best America has to offer’: Biden honors LPD Sgt. Tu Tran for water rescue
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – President Joe Biden honored a member of the Lincoln Police Department on Friday for a daring water rescue in 2023.
Sgt. Tu Tran — who helped rescue a woman from a sinking car in a south Lincoln pond on Feb. 23, 2023 — received the Medal of Valor.
Police said a 27-year-old woman was driving fast on an icy road.
She left the road, struck a transformer and drove into the pond near 14th Street and Yankee Hill Road.
When Tran arrived at the scene, he saw that the vehicle was nearly submerged, according to LPD.
Tran took off his police equipment, jumped into the water and swam to the vehicle.
He then pulled the woman out of the car before it sank to the bottom. She was taken to a hospital to be treated for cold weather-related injuries.
Police said Tran went to get a change of clothes before returning to work.
It was his second water rescue in six months.
Tran was one of eight people who received a Medal of Valor in an Oval Office ceremony.
Another recipient responded to a shooter at a school in Nashville, and another was New York City firefighter who rescued a mother and child from a burning apartment in 2022.
“They saved children, they saved people in serious distress, they jumped into freezing water, they did it all,” Biden said. “You are the best America has to offer, and I’m so damn proud to stand with you.”
Tran’s water rescue has earned him a few other accolades, including an award of excellence from Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and an invite to the State of the Union Address.
Erika Thomas, spokeswoman for the Lincoln Police Department, said Tran has made a big impact on other officers and the community as a whole.
“This is obviously a prestigious award — one of many that he’s received related to both of these rescues,” Thomas said. “I think, though, if you talk to him, he’ll just say he was doing the right thing. He’s incredibly humble, and that resonates every time I speak with him about what he’s accomplished and what he’s been able to do with these life-saving efforts.”
HUMBLE HERO | Ask #LPD Sgt. Tu Tran about his two water rescues and he’ll just tell you it was the right thing to do.
Today he’ll be presented with the Medal of Valor by President @JoeBiden & the @WhiteHouse.
Please help us congratulate him on this prestigious honor! pic.twitter.com/nrQBO3aCWc
— Lincoln Police (@Lincoln_Police) January 3, 2025
