By Scott Sullivan
Editor
When need called, they came. The six citizens who helped a man whose pickup truck plunged into the Kalamazoo River Aug.15 were cited by Douglas City Council Monday, Sept. 16, they being:
• Richard Beaudreault,
• Jason Lott
• Michael O’Brien
• Maxwell Klemm
• Amie Shanahan and
• Austin Waalkes
Police Chief Steve Kent’s account before council was harrowing. At 12:40 p.m. that day witnesses saw a 2008 Chevy Silverado pickup lose control northbound on Blue Star Highway, veer left across oncoming lanes, crash into and snap a power pole, bowl over road signs, continue down Washington Street and strike a curb at the curve, launching it into the river.
“I heard popping sounds, almost like gunfire, as lines snapped,” recounted eyewitness Ethan Barde. “Everything happened fast.”
Volunteer responders, said Kent, acted that way too.
• Lott, a visiting Ohioan fishing from a nearby bass boat, jumped onto the victim’s nose-down sinking pickup and tried to hammer through the cab’s rear windshield, trying to reach the unconscious driver.
• Shanahan, who heard the sounds from her Douglas home, scanned the scene and swam/waded out to the site with her own hammer, joining Lott on the pickup’s rear end trying to extricate the victim.
• Klemm and friend Waalkes steered their pontoon from the nearby Union Street launch to the scene, Klemm joining Shanahan onboard the pickup while Waalkes handed him a portable fire extinguisher, saying, “Here, try this.” When it worked, he and Shanahan pulled the driver out of the vehicle.
“Austin,” said Kent, “then kindly picked up Corp. Lori
Warsen and I, who’d arrived in our cruiser, and took us out there too.”
• O’Brien also heard the accident from his home and waded/swam out to assist as Klemm and Shanahan were pulling out the driver.
• Beaudreault grabbed a rock and swam/arrived to help if he could too. He helped direct traffic once back on shore.
The victim, a 61-year-old South Haven determined to have suffered a medical condition, was pulled out by Klemm and Shanahan, taken to shore, treated by LIFE Ambulance EMTs, who took him to Holland Hospital — and survived.
Klemm learned later his father, Jeff, had grown up friends with the man they saved.
The victim’s brother appeared at last Monday’s council meeting to join Kent expressing his gratitude to the rescuers.
“Their response was amazing,” said councilman Jerry Donovan. “It was a brighter day in Douglas than it could have been because of them.
“They saved a life. It restores your faith in people,” the police chief said.
