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Clark County Commission honors Henderson man who saved police officer

When Mike Elgas stopped for a quick breakfast on his way to work March 21, he didn’t know the next hour’s events would make him a local hero.

But that’s what the Clark County Commission labeled him Tuesday in honoring 48-year-old Elgas for saving the life of a Las Vegas police officer.

Henderson man Elgas was eating breakfast at a southeast valley Jack in the Box just before 6 a.m. when he saw a belligerent customer arguing with employees.

A manager at the restaurant called police, and an arriving officer asked the aggravated customer to step outside. The two walked out of the restaurant and the officer told the apparently intoxicated man he was free to go.

But then the man, who weighs 240 pounds and stands 6 feet 4 inches, knocked the officer, who weighs 160 pounds and stands about 5 foot 7 inches, to the ground and began punching his face.

Elgas jumped in when he saw the man reaching for the grounded officer’s gun and blocked him from grabbing the weapon.

The man was determined to hurt the officer, Elgas said to the Review-Journalon Tuesday.

“Mike witnessed the struggle and — absolutely, without hesitation, and again, it is incredible that you would do this — put his hand on the gun to stop the suspect from pulling it out of the holster,” Commissioner Susan Brager said to Elgas during the meeting.

Curtis Traupman, 39, was charged with one count each of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, resisting a public officer with the use of a firearm and battery on a protected person. Officer Ronald Reed went to University Medical Center with minor injuries, including cuts and bruising on his face and head.

After the struggle, Elgas called Bobbie Rogers, his girlfriend of nearly 13 years.

“He said, ‘I couldn’t believe how many people stood by watching,’” said Rogers, a 36-year-old school bus driver.

Rogers said Elgas re-told the story for several weeks after it happened, but would get emotional when he began to think about how he could have died. He shed tears Tuesday when he received his accolade.

Several of Elgas and Rogers’ friends and family members attended the meeting to celebrate. None of them were surprised that he saved the police officer’s life.

“He’s got good moral fiber, he’s a good guy,” said Larry McGee, Rogers’ brother-in-law. “He was supposed to be there when it happened.”

Brager said officers and civilians need to work together every day to protect the safety of the community.

“Mike is an example of what incredible courage can be about,” Brager said as she handed him a medal and a framed proclamation, declaring May 20, 2014, a day in his honor. “I’m not certain there are words that could share with you of how proud that we are as a county and as a state that we have a citizen like yourself.”

This situation, Brager said, reminds us of the dangers police officers face on a daily basis.

It also helped put things in perspective for Elgas.

“I see why the community feels the way they do about certain things with Metro,” Elgas said. “But in the same breath, I can see what they deal with. One hand washes the other.”

Contact reporter Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0391. Find her on Twitter: @lauxkimber.

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