California Highway Patrol Officer

California Highway Patrol

4/28/2013

Special Act Award (Gold)

On April 28, 2013, at approximately 2:15 p.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Wesley Jones responded to a traffic collision in Ventura County. A woman had driven her car off the freeway and down a steep embankment where it caught fire and ignited the surrounding brush. The woman was ejected. Several people stopped to assist, including a man who climbed down the embankment looking for the woman. Once he found her, he attempted to pull her away from the flames, but she resisted. When Officer Jones arrived on scene he heard voices but couldn’t see anyone. He climbed down the embankment and eventually found the man and woman, surrounded by a growing brushfire. Officer Jones noticed a small opening in the flames and ran through just as the woman’s car exploded, igniting even more brush. He grabbed the woman’s arm and forcefully pulled her through the small opening, and with the man’s assistance, carried her to a waiting officer. The man had become so extremely fatigued and disorientated from his strenuous rescue efforts he could no longer continue on his own, so Officer Jones assisted him until he reached safety.