SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A special ceremony was held in Southwest Miami-Dade to honor dozens of local heroes for their acts of bravery while they faced danger.
Police officers and firefighters were honored Thursday night for going above and beyond the call of duty and for saving lives in the process.
Miami-Dade Police Officer Natalie Loaces helped pull a man out of a burning car after his car hit a tree.
“We just did everything we could to get him out as quickly as possible, which we did, and fire rescue came and took him off to the hospital,” she said.
Loaces got to meet the man she saved, Guillermo Jimenez Aguilera, who was driving the car involved in the fiery crash.
Jimenez Aguilera said he was having trouble sleeping and dozed off at the wheel that morning, adding he is lucky Loaces was there to help save him.
“It’s never enough to say how grateful I am to the person who did this to me that day, but they are always doing good things,” he said.
“So in this case, when I see him, that he’s alive and he’s well and he’s grateful, that’s not the same situation we were in in the moment, and it’s just heartwarming to see that,” Loaces said.
But for Loaces, it’s not about the recognition. She said she was just doing her job that day.
“This was somebody’s somebody. Getting recognized, I mean, is not the important part. The important part is doing what you do,” she said. “I believe there’s a man above that looks down and sees everything that we do, and I’m just here to do His work, and I feel that any officer or anybody in that given circumstance would do anything to help a human life.”
Loaces was not the only officer at the scene that day. But in the eyes of Jimenez Aguilera, she is a true hero.
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