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Utah's two U.S. senators on Tuesday presented Weber County sheriff's Lt. Nathan Hutchinson with a congressional medal for bravery for dragging two wounded officers from a home being raided by narcotics strike force members, one of whom was killed.

Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee presented the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery to Hutchinson at a ceremony at the federal building in Salt Lake City.

On the night of Jan. 4, 2012, Hutchinson pulled two strike force members from the home of Matthew David Stewart, who opened fire on officers after they raided his home looking for a marijuana-growing operation.

Five officers were wounded and one, Jared Francom, 30, was killed. Hutchinson, then a sergeant, was wounded four times while he dragged the unconscious officers from the house, including Francom.

Stewart, a decorated Army veteran, committed suicide in May of 2013 while in the Weber County Jail.

Weber County attorney Dee Smith, who nominated Hutchinson for the medal, said the officer arrived at the scene after two others had been shot in the head.

"He dragged the first officer out unconscious, pulling him," said Smith. "Sgt. Hutchinson was shot twice and [was] pursued."

Hutchinson was out of ammunition for his gun when reentered the house to get Francom, Dee said.

"Without a gun, Sgt. Hutchinson went back, retrieved Jared Francom and was shot twice more," Dee said.

Lee compared Hutchinson to bulls he had seen in bullfighting rings in Spain "that charge even in the face of danger."

"It is an honor and a privilege to be here with someone, a valiant law enforcement officer, who was willing to charge into the face of danger," said Lee.

After receiving the honor, Hutchinson said that he wasn't good at public speaking and quipped, "Honestly, I'd rather be shot again."

He then paid tribute to the other members of the strike force and said he was accepting the honor on their behalf.

But there was an undercurrent to the ceremony resulting from the criticism by the Stewart family and community members about why the raid was conducted on someone who was not a major drug dealer and how so many officers were shot.

"The most disappointing part to me was some of the community's reaction after that," said Smith, referring to "people with an anti-law enforcement, pro-legalization agenda."

Hutchinson said after the event he heard questions about what had gone wrong.

"The reality is, six guys got shot that night because we all treated each other as brothers and we all loved each other as brothers," he said. "So six people got shot because the six people kept trying to help their other officers."

tharvey@sltrib.com