Officer

California Highway Patrol

7/31/2007

Special Act Award (Gold)

On July 31, 2007, California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Ticknor was driving north on State Route 70 at Garden Grove Drive near Oroville when he received a call from the Chico Communication Center of a total bridge collapse on State Route 149. Officer Ticknor was the first to arrive at the scene and found an injured construction worker buried under debris from the collapsed structure and a Fed Ex truck crushed between two 3,000 pound steel beams, with the driver trapped inside. Without regard for his safety and knowing the instability of the remaining bridge structure, Officer Ticknor crawled into the pile of fallen debris to assess the construction worker’s condition and found that he had suffered a broken elbow, pelvis, and leg. Officer Ticknor moved him to a safe area, and then made his way back to the driver trapped inside the crushed Fed Ex truck. After assessing the driver’s injuries and determining he couldn’t be moved from the vehicle, Officer Ticknor reassured him that emergency personnel were on the way. He then coordinated rescue efforts with CalTrans and bridge site contractors, and after an extensive three-hour rescue effort, successfully freed the man from his Fed Ex truck. Amazingly, the man only received a sprained ankle, scrapes and stitches to his nose. Officer Ticknor’s actions during this rescue were directly responsible for saving these men from further injury or possible death.