Officer honored after saving woman carjacked at gunpoint


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — Last week, a Salt Lake City woman was carjacked, kidnapped and forced to drive at gunpoint for seven hours.

A simple traffic stop may have saved her life. The officer who conducted that stop was honored and reunited with the woman Thursday.

Leslie Wilkie says Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal officer Geoffory Kirk saved her life. Even though he's been on the force for only a year, fellow officers hailed him as a hero Thursday.

“I just flashed my lights at her to get her to slow down,” Kirk said.

Wilkie is more than a little appreciative.

“Seeing his face takes me back to that moment when we met when I was pulled over,” she said.

Thursday was the first time Wilkie had seen Kirk since the day he saved her from what she said was one of the most terrifying moments in her life. Kirk said it was more than cop intuition that night.

“The biggest thing was her look, the way she looked at me, the eyes she gave me,” he said.

It was also timing that made the difference.

“It was a five minute window I could have missed her,” Kirk said. “I’m normally not even down in this area. I’m usually up north.”

Wilkie said that not only did Kirk save her life, he changed it.

“Every day is a gift to me more than it has ever been before, and I will often think of him and appreciate that he afforded me the opportunity to see another day,” Wilkie said.

Wilkie drove from Salt Lake City to Fort Duchesne on Thursday to see Kirk receive his award. She said she didn't want to miss the opportunity to thank him in person.

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Nicole Vowell

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast