WEATHERSFIELD — Two township police officers were honored this week for helping to save the life of a man on a bridge above Interstate 80.

Township trustees and Weathersfield administrators recognized officers Isaiah Brazofsky and Brandon Freer at the trustees meeting Tuesday for their professionalism, courage and life-saving actions in service to the community.

Trustee Richard Harkins said on March 21, Brazofsky and Freer were dispatched to the Salt Springs Road bridge above Interstate 80 in response to a welfare check involving a man sitting on the wall with his feet hanging over the bridge.

He said the two officers arrived on the scene within minutes and were confronted with an extremely dangerous and emotionally charged situation involving an individual in crisis who said he wanted to end his life.

Harkins said Brazofsky, who served as the officer in charge, requested the Ohio State Highway Patrol block traffic on Interstate 80 while both officers began calmly and carefully engaging with the man.

Officials said the two officers were able to establish rapport with the man, de-escalate the situation, reassure the man by gaining his trust, and ultimately persuade him to safely come off the wall and walk over to them without the need for force.

“As a direct result of their actions, the individual was safely taken into protective care and transported for treatment, preserving human life and demonstrating the highest ideals of law enforcement service,” Harkins said.

Police Chief Michael Naples and police Captain Kristopher Hodge commended both officers for their professional actions in saving the life of the man, noting that despite having fewer than five years of service as police officers and never previously handling a call of this nature, they acted without hesitation and brought the incident to a positive outcome.

“We are proud of all our officers in our department who come to work every day and handle calls from very simple things to very complicated things. They handle calls very professionally. Our two youngest officers handled a very high-stress call of a person in crisis with issues, which is like 80% of our calls today. They talked him off that wall and did it with a lot of compassion and patience,” Naples said.

He said this is a credit to their training and who they are.

Trustee Ed Whittaker praised the officers.

“You showed your humanity,” Whittaker said, “and building trust with that individual is a credit to you and our leadership.”

Trustee Chairman Steve Gerberry said 80% of the calls the police deal with are unstable individuals, “so you never know what you are walking up to.”

“Their training kicked in and they did what they had to do,” he said.

Proclamations were presented to the two officers.

ROAD PROJECTS

In other matters, trustees adopted a resolution to concur with the county commissioners entering into a contract with Karvo Companies Inc. of Stow at $665,468 for the Niles Carver and Salt Springs roads improvement project.

That project is being funded with up to $569,668 from the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program through the Federal Highway Administration with up to $142,417 from the Ohio Public Works Commission for a project total grant award of $712,085.

Township Administrator David Rouan said the project will be done in late spring or early summer.

Gerberry said two road projects of about a mile are being done at no cost to the township.

He said in 2025 work was done on West Webb Road and on County Line Road.