Q&A
Aurora police Officer John Sangi was honored Monday night with the Bill Daniels Neighborhood Heroes award for helping to save a man who was pinned under a pickup last summer.
Sangi, assigned to the motorcycle unit, was on patrol lin June when he saw a motorcycle down on the road and a man trapped under a truck.
He stopped immediately and others did, too. They lifted the truck, walked it away from the man, then Sangi freed him. The victim, who likely would have died had Sangi not responded so quickly, recovered after a lengthy hospital stay.
The $500 Sangi received from the fund will go toward the Police Department’s K-9 unit. The former chef turned police officer, who is 36, was honored at Monday night’s Aurora City Council meeting. Also honored was Officer Tim King, for his 21 years of service.
Q: How do you go from being a chef to being a cop?
A: Back when I was 21 in New York, I tried to get into the state troopers, but at that time it was very difficult to get in. So I went back to school, graduated from the Culinary Institute in New York, moved away and worked at the Flagstaff restaurant in Boulder. But being a cop was always in the back of my mind.
Q: Why did you want to be a police officer?
A: Mostly for the excitement of it. Every day is different. Just to be out and about and not stuck behind a desk. It’s a good way to spend a day at work.
Q: Was rescuing that man the most exciting thing you had experienced as an officer?
A: That was right up there. It gets your blood flowing. It was pretty obvious that it was serious right away. It’s something that you feel like you have to do.
Q: Has the man you saved reached out to you since his recovery?
A: We had a little awards ceremony at the station and he and his wife were there. His wife just thanked me for giving their kids their father back. It was pretty touching.
– Carlos Illescas, Denver Post staff writer
REGIONAL NOTES
FORT COLLINS
Museum pairs geology, music
The Fort Collins Museum presents the new exhibit – “Rock This Town: a new spin on the geological record” – opening Feb. 2.
The museum will celebrate the exhibit with an opening reception, featuring Kenny Cordova and the Olde Rock Band, from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Rock This Town” plays on the themes of geology and music, exploring connections beyond “rock and roll.”
Visitors will enter the “Hall of Rock” to discover how the sedimentary is anything but sedentary and how the metamorphic might just change minds about what science and art have in common.
For more information, check the museum website: www.fcgov.com/museum.
GOLDEN
Seedlings offered for reforestation
A workshop will be held Wednesday for people interested in reforestation and other conservation projects on their land.
The focus of the session from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Colorado State Forest Service, 1504 Quaker St., will be on planting seedling trees grown by the forest service and sold for a low cost. Property owners must have at least 2 acres of land to qualify.
About 40 varieties of trees, both deciduous and coniferous, are available. Orders are received through late March, and the trees are picked up at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in mid-April.
Most of the deciduous trees are sold in bundles of 50 bare-root plants at $31 plus tax, per bundle. The conifers are sold mostly as potted plants in crates of 30 at either $27 or $43.80 plus tax, depending on the plants’ size. For information, call 303-271-6620.
DENVER POST STAFF REPORTS
