First on 58: Before Officer Kendall Corder worked for the Milwaukee Police Department, he saved a life at Cudahy High School, SRO recalls

CUDAHY, Wis. (CBS 58) – Milwaukee Police Officer Kendall Corder made the ultimate sacrifice after he was shot near 25th and Garfield Thursday, June 26, and died Sunday, June 29. However, a former school resource officer says Corder was already saving lives when he was a student at Cudahy High School. 

Steven Kaminski served for 33 years at the Cudahy Police Department, and 11 of them were spent as a school resource officer at Cudahy High School. Kaminski said he met Corder, a football player, two days into the job. 

"The kid, no matter what happened, he had a smile on his face," Kaminski said. "When he walked the hallways, when he was in the school, he always had a smile on his face and there were always people around Kendall. He was an attraction.”

Kaminski said in February 2011, he was called to a classroom where a student had accidentally swallowed a pen cap. During this time, the choking victim was starting to become somewhat panicked and started to turn blue. Kaminski said Corder positioned himself behind the choking victim and performed the Heimlich maneuver on him. 

“There was Kendall. Kendall decided he was going to take charge and performed the Heimlich maneuver on this kid," Kaminski said. "He saved that kid's life."

During his time at Cudahy High School, school leaders say he earned the admiration of both students and staff. In 2011, he was honored with a superintendent’s award for citizenship, and by both the City of Cudahy Mayor’s Office and the Cudahy Police Department, for his quick thinking and heroic actions.

Kaminski said this action from Corder showed his dedication to keeping others safe, which would eventually turn into a career of six years as a Milwaukee police officer.

“When you talked to Kendall, it was always about how much he loved doing police work. He just loved it. It was in his DNA. He didn’t realize from an early stage on, but he was born to be a police officer. He really was," Kaminski said. 

While Corder died under horrific circumstances, Kaminski is remembering him for how he lived. 

“In speaking with his family, I told them, he didn’t die a hero. He was a hero when he raised his hand and took the oath," Kaminski said. "He lived a hero.”