MEDAL OF HONOR
On November 15, 2019, during their 50th Anniversary Awards Ceremony, the Oregon Peace Officers Association awarded Officer James Cleavenger their highest honor, the Medal of Honor. The following is a description of the incident which earned Cleavenger this award, which is compiled from the Oregon Peace Officers Association and witness accounts:
On February 8, 2019, Oakridge Police Officer James Cleavenger responded alone to a request for a welfare check on a family whose adult daughter was experiencing severe mental health issues. When Officer Cleavenger arrived, he saw an elderly man with a walker frantically trying to get into the house next door. The man told Officer Cleavenger that the neighbor’s daughter was locked inside his laundry room and was trying to kill his wife with a knife. Officer Cleavenger ran to where the door to the laundry room was located and kicked it in after finding that it was locked. Once inside, he found the suspect actively stabbing the man’s elderly wife, who was on her knees, covered in blood, begging for her life.
Officer Cleavenger immediately ordered the suspect to “drop the knife” but she did not comply. Cleavenger then shot the suspect with his Taser and then had to fight hand-to-hand with her until he was able to tackle her to the ground and remove the knife from the suspect’s grip. During the fight, Cleavenger and the suspect kicked over a fire extinguisher, which filled the small room with a cloud of white fire suppressant, making it difficult to breathe and see.
Once Cleavenger subdued the subject and had her in handcuffs, he had to wait alone for backup, continuing to hold-down the struggling suspect for nearly 15 additional minutes. Once backup arrived, Cleavenger ordered the first responding Officer, Oakridge Reserve Officer Valerie Miller, to check the suspect’s home next door, where she found both the suspect’s parents deceased from multiple stab wounds from the same knife the suspect used when attempting to kill her 3rd victim, whose life Cleavenger saved.
The victim sustained serious and potentially life-threatening injuries including multiple stab wounds and deep cuts on her hands while defending herself from the knife, but she was rushed to the Emergency Room and survived. Officer Cleavenger sustained minor cuts on his hand from the knife during the struggle with the suspect, but he declined medical attention so responding Medics could focus their efforts on the victims and the suspect.
