Caltrans Equipment Operator

Department of Transportation

1/13/2007

Special Service Award (Silver)

On January 13, 2007, at approximately 6:30 a.m., California Department of Transportation employee Timothy Mooney was sanding the icy areas of the roadway between Hopland and Lakeport on Highway 175, when he noticed a vehicle located approximately fifty to eighty feet down a steep slope. Mr. Mooney got his flashlight and climbed down the hill in the dark to investigate. While at the scene, he heard a noise coming from the trunk of the vehicle. Mr. Mooney opened the trunk and discovered an injured man with severe head lacerations. Not knowing if the perpetrators were still in the area, Mr. Mooney contacted the California Highway Patrol and then assisted the man to a sitting position. The temperature was 17 degrees. To protect the man from the cold, Mr. Mooney gave him his raincoat. The Hopland Fire Department responded to the scene and airlifted the victim to the hospital, where he was hospitalized for a month for treatment of head trauma and hypothermia. The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this incident as a kidnapping and attempted murder case. Without a thought for his personal safety, on a freezing January morning, Mr. Mooney rescued a severely injured man trapped in the trunk of a car.