Sheriff Urquhart presents awards to LifeSavers for Shoreline incident

Pictured above: Harold Taniguchi (Director King County Department of Transportation),
Julie Jensen (Deputy Sheriff Snohomish county Sheriff's Office),
Lindol Larkin (Metro Tranist Driver),
John Urquart (King county Sheriff),
Kevin Desmond (Metro General Manager),
Rhonda Berry (Assistant Deputy King County Executive),
Cathy Vukovich (Metro North Base Chief).
Photo by Steven H. Robinson

King County Sheriff John Urquhart presented Meritorious Service Awards to three individuals, two of whom were present, on Monday, April 8 for their role in preventing a major tragedy from occurring during a busy afternoon commute on February 13 in north King County. Their quick actions not only saved a life but prevented an even more serious incident from occurring on I-5.

The ceremony was held at the Metro North Base at 2160 N 163rd St. in Shoreline.

Metro bus driver Lindol Larkin was honored by
King County Sheriff John Urquhart
Photo by Steven H. Robinson

On February 13th, Metro bus driver Lindol Larkin, along with an off-duty Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy, and another bystander worked together to stop a man from jumping from the NE 185th Street overpass onto Interstate 5 in Shoreline. The individuals physically intervened and held the man until deputies could arrive.

Snohomish County Deputy Julie Jensen was honored
for her life-saving role by King County Sheriff John Urquhart
Photo by Steven H. Robinson

Metro bus driver Lindol Larkin was driving the Route 348 on NE 185th Street at about 4pm when he saw a man straddled over the railing of the overpass above I-5. Two other bystanders, off-duty Snohomish County Deputy Julie Jensen, and Shoreline resident Samual Simkoff were attempting to talk the man down as traffic in the northbound lane of I-5 began to slow. When Lindol saw what was happening, he pulled his bus over, called 911 and then jumped out to help pull the individual off the railing. Together, the three managed to subdue the man until Shoreline police arrived a short time later.

The Sheriff credits the trio for saving the life of the man on the overpass and drivers on I-5 who could have been injured or killed had the man jumped.