Published: November 15, 2007 08:18 am      

Policeman honored for bravery

William Hunt presented award

Somerset Police Lt. William Hunt thought his shift was over when he arrived home one morning last March.

After performing his duties as a police officer overnight, he came home ready to relax with his daughter and eventually get some sleep.

Then his mother-in-law, who had come to help baby-sit, alerted him to a potential problem.

“She said, ‘I think there’s a house on fire around here somewhere. You better go check,’” Hunt recalled.

Police officers aren’t trained to fight fires, but Hunt — wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and house shoes — immediately sprang into action.

He quickly discovered that the house which was burning was located next door, where his elderly neighbor, 98-year-old James Overby, lived alone.

Hunt followed the smoke to the back of the house, and called 911 as he ran toward his neighbor’s residence.

As he was describing the severity of the fire to dispatchers, he noticed Mr. Overby lying near the house.

“When I saw him, I threw the phone down and rushed over to him,” he said.

Overby was unconscious, and Lt. Hunt didn’t know whether he could be revived — but he was determined not to let the man sustain any further injuries.

“In my mind, I was thinking that no person needs to burn,” he said.

Hunt recalls that there was “a lot of smoke,” and that the flames were shooting up from the first floor of the house to the second floor.

“I tried to get him away from it,” he said.

“I was trying to pull him back, but the heat was so hot ... I collapsed and fell backward. ... Then I tried to use my shirt to shield the heat, and I stayed low to the ground.”

Lt. Hunt would be overcome by the heat and smoke several times before he was successful in pulling Overby’s body away from the growing blaze.

“Then I heard the sirens, and I could tell they were close,” he said.

Unfortunately, Mr. Overby could not be revived. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hunt was treated for smoke inhalation, but sustained no other injuries.

He didn’t attempt to be a hero on that day. In fact, he didn’t grant any media interviews in the days following the fire.

But his modest, instinctive efforts to help his neighbor led the the local POW-MIA Committee to select Hunt as the Somerset Police Department’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Hunt accepted the award on behalf of the entire SPD.

“On that day, I was in a place and time where I did something I believe every person would have done. ... I would like to believe it’s in the nature of any police officer, whether they’re trained (in firefighting) or not, to do what I did,” he said.

“It’s our job to help people. That’s what we’re here for.”