Three DeKalb County sanitation workers were honored Tuesday for helping save a young woman’s life.

According to officials, ZahMontay Cherry, Richard Jones and Peter Williams were working their regular route near Lithonia when, on Oct. 4, they dumped a curbside roll cart into their truck. They then “noticed someone’s hand protruding from the hopper.”

The hand belonged to a 16-year-old girl — who was still alive.

The sanitation workers quickly called 911 and “assured that the teenager received the care she needed,” officials said.

In a Twitter post celebrating the sanitation workers, the DeKalb County Police Department said the girl had “fallen asleep” in the garbage can, but no further details about the nature of the incident were available.

“Not only were these gentlemen focused on serving DeKalb County with excellence,” Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson said. “They also served with awareness.”

Davis Johnson and her colleagues honored the men at the start of Tuesday’s commission meeting, the board’s first in-person gathering since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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8/26/17 - Atlanta, GA - Georgia leaders, including Gov. Nathan Deal, Sandra Deal, members of the King family, and Rep. Calvin Smyre,  were on hand for unveiling of the first statue of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday at the statehouse grounds, more than three years after Gov. Nathan Deal first announced the project.  During the hour-long ceremony leading to the unveiling of the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the state Capitol on Monday, many speakers, including Gov. Nathan Deal, spoke of King's biography. The statue was unveiled on the anniversary of King's famed "I Have Dream" speech. BOB ANDRES  /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres