Officers, civilians commended for their actions

Dec. 26, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - Just before 7:30 a.m. Oct. 16, a Buick and a Ford Expedition crashed on the Old Glenn Highway, near the Matanuska River Bridge, and one woman died. But quick action by three Palmer police officers and two concerned citizens prevented greater tragedy as they raced to save her life.

Those actions led to a letter of commendation two weeks later for officers Jason Crockett, Andy DeVeaux and Dwayne Shelton, as well as Roscoe Barrett and Eric Weber, from Palmer Police Chief Russ Boatright.

Boatright sent the letter to Tom Healy, city manager, and read it to the city council at the Nov. 28 council meeting.

Margie Barnett of Palmer, heading west in the Buick, crossed the center line. The Buick hit the Expedition, which was driven by Karen Priest, in the left front corner, and the impact folded the SUV into the shape of a Z, the letter said.

Priest was able to get out of her car, but was dazed. Barnett was unresponsive and trapped inside the Buick as flames emerged from under the car's hood, then grew to 3 to 4 feet above the hood.

Barrett and Weber had stopped to help and were struggling to open the Buick's door when Crockett drove up on the scene. Barrett and Weber shouted to the police officer that the driver was trapped.

Crockett retrieved the fire extinguisher from his patrol car and started to put out the flames. Crockett used his fire extinguisher and one handed to him by a Laidlaw school bus driver who had stopped nearby. Although the flames diminished, they didn't go out.

The Expedition's fuel tank had ruptured and was leaking gasoline just as the flames erupted again from the Buick's hood. Crockett ran through a 2-foot-wide flow of gas to get to his patrol car, radio dispatch about the situation, and tell Barrett and Weber about the danger.

Officers DeVeaux and Shelton arrived and added their fire extinguishers to the effort, which helped, but didn't put the fire out. When another Laidlaw driver offered his fire extinguisher, Crockett ran through the gasoline flow, which by then was 10 feet wide on the highway.

Weber used a crowbar he got from the trunk of his car to smash the Buick's driver's window, but the door still wouldn't open.

After DeVeaux cut the seat belt that was wrapped around Barnett's leg, he, Barrett and Weber removed her through the smashed window.

DeVeaux, Crockett, Weber and Barrett were involved in rescue breathing and chest compressions on Barnett, and the crew of Palmer Ambulance worked on her some more after she was loaded into their ambulance.

The efforts were not successful, and Barnett was pronounced dead at the scene.

Although it seemed like the rescue effort took a long time as events unfolded, Crockett recently estimated only about four to five minutes passed from the time he pulled up to the crash until the first firefighter arrived.

The rest of the fire crew arrived shortly after ,and soaked up the gasoline.

&#8220It was covering the highway,” Crockett said. &#8220I turned to Todd (Russell) and said, ‘Boy, am I glad to see you,' and DeVeaux called to say we were ready to start CPR.”

The officers performed CPR on Barnett for about another four to five minutes before the rescue crew arrived, he said.

In the letter, Boatright commended the officers and civilians for great bravery and for setting aside their personal safety in the face of extreme peril in fighting the fire and attempting to rescue Barnett.

Crockett, who now carries two large fire extinguishers in his patrol car, said it was nice to get recognized.

&#8220But if we don't see anything like this again, it's fine by me,” he said.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.