Michael-Patrick McAnelly, The Westin St. Francis Hotel
Putting oneself in harm's way to protect a guest certainly qualifies as going "Beyond the Call of Duty." That is exactly what Doorman, Michael-Patrick McAnelly did recently near the front entrance at the Westin St. Francis. A mentally distrubed man started shouting obsenities at a female guest he had been following in front of the hotel. Michael-Patrick ran to her aide and put himself between the assailant and the woman. The man then pulled a knife on Michael-Patrick, but Michael-Patrick stood his ground and yelled for the police. The man fled before the police arrived but they found Michael-Patrick trying to calm and console the distraught guest. The police have recommended Michael-Patrick for a Citizen's Award for his heroic actions in coming to the assistance of the woman.
A few months later, the hotel received a letter in praise of Michael-Patrick's assistance regarding a remarkable coincidence. In the elevator at the Criminal Courts Building, on his way to give his testimony about the above-stated incident, Michael-Patrick encountered a woman who was extremely distraught and crying because she too had to testify about an incident where she was threatened and attacked with a knife by a mentally deranged man on Geary Street. It was the same man Michael had encountered and prevented from accosting his hotel's guest! Michael-Patrick sat with the woman and did his best to console and comfort her, even going so far as to step in and plead with the police to let her testify without the assailant in the room as she was so frightened. Michael-Patrick came to the rescue once more. It seems that going Beyound the Call of Duty is all in a day's work.