Indianapolis: Yesterday eight troopers from Versailles District were recognized at an awards ceremony in Indianapolis. Troopers Korry Clark, Joe Livers, Brent Lykins, and Stephen Wheeles received the Indiana State Police Life Saving Award. Troopers Clark, Lykins, and Wheeles were credited with saving the life of Malinda Miller-Bell of Charlestown, IN on April 14, 2013 after she was involved in a crash on I-65 near the 56.5 mile marker. Tpr. Wheeles arrived at the scene first and discovered Mrs. Miller-Bell with her head pinned under her vehicle. Shortly thereafter Troopers Lykins and Clark arrived on the scene and the troopers used a floor jack and scissors jack to raise the vehicle enough to relieve the pressure from her head until firefighters and EMT’s were able to arrive at the scene.
Trooper Livers was credited with saving the life of Rush County Sheriff Jim Owens in 2004 when during a vehicle pursuit Sheriff Owens was involved in a crash after which his car caught fire and the sheriff was entrapped in the vehicle. Sheriff Owens said Tpr. Livers “ripped the door off its hinges” to extricate the sheriff.
Receiving the Indiana State Police Combat Action Award were Troopers Matt Haviland and David Meyer. The Combat Action Award is awarded to police employees for courageous “at risk” performance of duty; to include the use of and/or defense against life threatening physical force (or other specific actions that elevates danger to the police employee). Troopers Haviland and Meyer were serving as members of the Indiana State Police Emergency Response Team (ERT) on June 1, 2005 when they were involved in a barricaded hostage situation in Shelbyville. In the early morning hours of the second day of the incident, Troopers Haviland and Meyer along with several other ERT members made a deliberate assault to rescue the hostage which resulted in an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and ERT members.
Receiving the Bronze Star Award were Troopers Jared Black and Chris Lockman. The Bronze Star is awarded for distinguished service or outstanding public service so as to be recognized as having performed at a level clearly unique to expectations of regularly assigned job responsibilities. In the early morning hours of August 31, 2013 Troopers Black and Lockman arrived on the scene of a crash on CR 850E in Jackson County where a vehicle was fully engulfed in flames. The victim of the crash was lying on the ground approximately six inches from the burning vehicle and his legs were on fire and his clothing had been burned off. Despite the intense heat from the fire, Tpr. Lockman was able to grab one of the victim’s arms but was unable to pull the victim away due to the intense heat. Tpr. Black was able to grab Tpr. Lockman’s duty belt and both pulled and managed to get the victim a safe distance from the vehicle and along with several officers from Seymour Police Department rendered assistance to the victim until EMS arrived on scene. Despite the gallant efforts of the troopers and Seymour officers, the victim succumbed to his injuries the next day.
