Officers with the Sarasota Police Department helped rescue a man from a sixth-floor ledge last week. Shortly after 2 a.m. March 27, they responded to reports of a man sitting in an opening of a downtown parking garage.
Officer Michal Banasiak arrived and began speaking with the man, assuring him he was not in trouble despite the gathering of police and emergency vehicles on the ground below.
After officers Kassidee Plumley and Orlando Perez arrived to assist, a rescue opportunity presented itself when the man accepted an offer from Banasiak to help him open a bottle. Reaching for the bottle, Banasiak instead grabbed the man by the arm and, with assistance from Plumley and Perez, pulled him to safety. All three officers joined the SPD in 2022 and 2023…