It takes a special person to make the split-second decision to put themselves in harm’s way in order to save another person.

On his first day, Warren police officer Shane Russell saw the driver of a box truck start creeping through a red light. The rookie officer pulled the driver out of the vehicle and performed CPR – all before being sworn in as an active officer. He will be honored for his actions – deservedly so – at a future Warren City Council meeting.

He also received some assistance from a local nurse in the incident.

Russell is a credit to his uniform, but we’d be remiss not to mention Warren Police Chief Joe Sproveri. It was Sproveri who responded to a lack of eligible certified applicants to join the Warren police force and decided to create a pilot program to hire people off the street and then send them to the police academy for training.

Sproveri’s pilot program paid off – as did Russell’s instincts and training.

That’s an outstanding start, both for Russell and for Sproveri’s pilot program.