Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputies Thomas Brower and Lauren Meyer were commended for their heroic actions along with Michigan State Police Troopers following a technical ice rescue.
By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
Jackson County Sheriff’s officers and Michigan State Police troopers braved subzero temperatures and unstable ice to save a person in crisis early Saturday.
JSO officers responded to an emergency call Jan. 25 at about 6:30 a.m., to a house in the 7500 block of Trophy Court, a small street neighboring Little Portage Lake in Waterloo Township.
This was the weekend of Winter Storm Fern, which hit Michigan with 10 inches of snow and frigid temperatures.
Michigan State Police were also dispatched to the site, which involved a person in crisis, who had fled the home in an off-road vehicle, according to Sheriff Gary Schuette. JCSO were asked to assist MSP in “locating a suicidal subject” who had crashed the ORV into the lake.
According to Schuette, “Deputy Brower was the first to arrive on the scene and immediately began tracking the ORV through the snow. The tracks led across a frozen lake, where the deputy discovered the vehicle…Brower guided MSP troopers and Deputy Meyer to the crash site, where they located the subject suffering from life-threatening, self-inflicted injuries.”
The nature or source of the injuries was not disclosed.
What followed was a fast-moving scene, resulting in deputies and troopers “facing temperatures well below zero and traversing unstable ice,” performing “immediate life-saving measures” on the victim.
First responders also had to innovate, “Due to the remote location and the severity of the victim’s injuries, deputies and troopers improvised by fashioning a door from the ORV into a makeshift stretcher. The team pulled the subject across the ice until a rescue sled arrived, at which point the victim was carried to a waiting ambulance for transport to a local hospital,” according to the press release.
According to Undersheriff Anthony Stewart, “The ingenuity and physical stamina demonstrated by these deputies and troopers under extreme environmental conditions undoubtedly saved a life.”
“Their willingness to risk their own safety on unstable ice and in freezing temperatures exemplifies the highest standards of public service,” Stewart added.
When asked for further details as to the case, such as the name of the lake and the nature of the injuries, Stewart responded in email, “I cannot get into the many specifics, as the investigation is ongoing.”
