County Police Chief Jon Belmar recently presented a Citizen’s Citation honor to a Lindbergh Schools student whose heroic actions saved his mother’s life last year.

To loud applause from the many police officers who packed the Jan. 27 meeting of the county Board of Police Commissioners in Clayton, Belmar shook the hand of Sperreng Middle School sixth-grader Blake Hohman, 12, and told him, “Blake, we’re awfully proud of you.”

Presenting the award, Detective Justin Adams said that officers from the county and the Lakeshire Police Department were called to a Lakeshire apartment building Nov. 6 for an assault involving the cutting of a victim.

After police arrived and handled the “immediate threat” of the attacker, they found Jillian Hohman, Blake’s mother, in the hallway of the apartment building with severe injuries, Adams said.

Blake bravely fought off his mother’s attacker, according to the citation. Despite his own injuries from protecting her, he managed to escape to a neighboring apartment to alert police, Adams said.

“Due to his quick thinking and without regard for his own safety, he stepped in the way of danger to save the life of someone else and without doubt, he is the sole reason his mother is alive today,” Adams noted.

“He was faced with an unimaginable amount of adversity, which most of us will never experience,” Adams added. “Without hesitation, he intervened, and his actions are commendable and heroic.”

Accepting the award, Blake thanked the family’s friends who continue to help him and his mother recover from the attack, and he noted that his mother is doing “pretty well,” although she is not yet fully recovered from her injuries.