Orem Scout's bravery earns top award
"Only a handful of these awards are handed out each year (nationwide)," said Delyle Johnson, a local representative from Boy Scouts of America who presented Collin Jensen with the award during a court of honor.
Jensen received the Lifesaving Honor Medal for "unusual heroism and skill in saving or attempting to save life at considerable risk to self," according to the National Court of Honor.
He was mowing a neighbor's lawn next door on the evening of July 21 when the young Scout saw the pit bull run into his yard and attack a small dog that a neighbor had entrusted his family to watch while she went on vacation.
"He screamed for help and I came running out the front door," his mother Andrea Jensen said. "The dog had already ripped open the underside of the little schnauzer and there was blood all over the porch."
When Andrea Jensen bent over to help her son save the dog from the pit bull's bite it leapt at her, knocking her on her back, she said.
Collin "punched, pulled and pushed the dog away" so his mother could get to her feet and retreat inside the house, she said.
The dog, however, wasn't done and followed her.
Andrea Jensen said she slammed the dog in the door a few times while it attempted to burst in after her, she said. But her son "kept fighting; he just kept punching it the whole time so we could shut it out and escape."
Witnessing the bloody battle affected Collin Jensen's 7-year-old sister enough she had to receive counseling.
The award was a surprise for the Orem High junior.
Andrea Jensen and other witnesses recorded their testimony of the event in September and submitted it. It passed a district committee, then a regional committee, clear up to the national committee.
"He's a good kid who deserves this credit," said Chris Stevenson, his bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I don't feel like a life saver," Collin said. "I like animals so I felt weird punching at it like I did."
The dog had escaped its owner's yard by tunneling under a fenced-in kennel. It was later taken to the animal shelter, the police report stated.
The schnauzer is alive and well after medical treatment — and its owner, who recently left on another vacation, was happy to entrust its safekeeping to the Jensens.
E-mail: jhancock@desnews.com
Recent comments
Before you make an ignorant comment like "the fact remains these...
Do your research on the bree | March 28, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.
It is not the dog that just became mean and decided to attack. Any...
Good vs Bad Dogs | March 27, 2008 at 11:01 p.m.
It's good to see more positive things in the news. Go Des News...
Anonymous | March 27, 2008 at 8:38 p.m.
