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RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Highway Patrol Officer Dane Norem rushed out of his car, sprinted to the curb, jumped and grabbed the suicidal man by the ankle just as he straddled the top of the overpass fence. A busy highway roared beneath them.

If Norem let go, the jumper would die. Cars would swerve and crash. Others might die too.

But Norem was determined not to let that happen. He wrapped the man’s leg in a bear hug and lifted his feet, using his body to anchor the jumper to the overpass. The man had too much leverage for Norem to pull him off the fence, but Norem – a big cop loaded with gear – was too strong and too heavy for the man to yank free. It was a stalemate in a tug-of-war between life and death.

But the jumper had a knife. He stabbed downward.

“When I got struck in the face, it didn’t really hurt,” Norem said. “It felt like I had been punched and it felt wet, like a water balloon had popped. I came to figure out later that was my eye.”

Over the next two minutes, Norem would be stabbed seven times, including once in his right eye, yet he would refuse to let go, knowing that his grip was the last defense against catastrophe. This rescue, which occurred Oct. 25, 2012, would become the defining moment for a hero police officer, praised across California for bravery so remarkable that it makes other cops pause in awe. Norem’s selflessness would save a life – likely more than one – but in the process he would be so viciously wounded that he nearly lost his eyesight, his career and his identity.

After the stabbing, it would take three years and a state-of-the-art surgery for Norem to become a full-fledged police officer again. He would finally return to duty just in time to respond to the San Bernardino terror attack, when California needed its cops more than ever. And throughout his recovery, Norem would maintain enlistment in the California Air National Guard, going to the Middle East this year on a deployment that was once considered unthinkable because of his injuries.

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Originally posted by TBH:
It also warms my heart to see so many stop to try to help the officer.

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Originally posted by Sigmanic:
If he had stabbed me in the eye I would have shot him.

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Originally posted by H&K-Guy:
This is what it means to be a Police Officer.

H&K-Guy

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Originally posted by stickman428:
My idea of a hero is not somone who gets stabbed in the eye while saving human garbage.

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Originally posted by bubbatime:
"Hero" cop. More like cop that didn't apply proper and judicious force, and needs serious retraining.