State Traffic Officer

California Highway Patrol

3/4/1989

Special Act Award (Gold)

On March 4, 1989, at approximately 9:48 pm, Officer Jeffrey A. Jones was on his routine patrol on Grapefruit Blvd. within the city limits of Coachella, when he noticed a large cloud of dust in the air several hundred feet ahead. Upon reaching the dust cloud, he observed a pickup truck about 85 feet south of the roadway resting on the railroad tracks. He immediately ran to the vehicle to investigate and found an injured, semiconscious man slumped in the driver's seat and bleeding profusely from a severe facial laceration. Officer Jones quickly retrieved his EMT kit from the patrol car and returned to administer first aid. As he was tending to the man's injuries, Officer Jones heard the warning bells at the nearby crossing and immediately looked to the north to see the gates closing and a train approaching rapidly. Realizing that he had only a few seconds before impact, Officer Jones tried to remove the injured man from the pickup. The man, who was not only dazed from his injuries but also intoxicated, began to resist any rescue attempt. Without consideration for his own safety, Officer Jones persisted and managed to grab the man's clothing and pull him to safety within approximately one second before impact as witnessed and reported by both the train's engineer and conductor. Both men rolled down an embakement adjacent to the tracks, landing within mere feet of the impact of the train upon the truck. Based on the force of the impact and the extent of the damage to the pickup, it is evident that the man would have been killed if not for actions of Officer Jones.