PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Eighteen people were honored at the State House Wednesday for saving six lives.
Governor Chafee and Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis bestowed the 2012 State Lifesaving Medals, the state's highest award for heroics while rescuing people from death.
The awards went to:
Providence Police Officer Michael Clary, for spotting a fire at 5 Croyland Rd. around 1 a.m. on May 1 and alerting residents, pulling Erica Robinson and her mother and two children to safety from their third floor apartment.
Off-duty Wyatt Detention Facility Sgt. Donald Pina, for performing CPR until he revived infant Jiliana Correia, whose heart had stopped because of a seizure.
Fifteen Newport firefighters and a police officer who formed a human chain to pull a drowning swimmer, Gregory Minetti of New York, from the water off Brenton Point on Aug. 7, 2011. The firefighters were Deputy Chiefs Frank E. Young and Brian T. Dugan; Captains David C. Hanos Jr. and David P. Murphy; Lieutenants Andrew M. Palmer and Michael J. Eyre; and firefighters Derek W. Crossman, Daniel P. Young, Richard F. Wheeler, Robert A. Edward Jr., Christopher R. Mariotti, James C. Brown, Allan R. Gray, David B. Sieben, George L. Stepalavich. The police officer was Anson V. Smith Jr.