The Missouri Chapter of the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials is proud to recognize emergency communications professionals and field responders from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office in Harrisonville as the 11th Missouri Teammates in Action!
Early on Monday morning, May 17th, 2021, a female called 911 reporting she had driven into floodwaters on Missouri Highway E near Strasburg, Missouri. Jessica Vogel and Courtney Peregrine were the Communication Officers on duty at the time of the call.
Jessica answered the call. The woman said she was able to get herself out of the vehicle and onto the roof. While phone reception was not perfect, the dispatchers were able to understand that she was in water. The two communications officers were able to use mapping technologies to determine the caller’s location was in a river.
Jessica stayed on the phone with the caller for approximately 40 minutes, reassuring her that help was on the way. Courtney dispatched police, fire, EMS, rescue boats, and other available resources by radio and by phone to the caller’s location. These actions allowed Jessica to concentrate on the panicked female who was holding to a branch and her phone. As the call went on, the caller said she was starting to feel hypothermic. Jessica and Courtney worked tirelessly to make sure the caller kept talking to them about her family. Jessica maintained a calm, reassuring voice throughout the call – trying everything possible to encourage the desperate woman to continue to struggle and to hang on as the water continued to rise up to her neck.
Deputy Teegarden risked his own safety by wading through waste-high water in the direction of the caller provided by dispatch. Courtney had the deputy shine his flashlight until the caller saw it. When found, the woman was still hanging onto a tree branch with fast flowing water continuing to rise around her. She was over a quarter of a mile from the roadway and the truck she escaped from was nowhere to be seen. Responders were able to throw a rope to her and then pull her from the tree through the rushing water. She did not suffer any injury.
The patience, compassion, and fast actions displayed by communications officers Vogel and Peregrine were critical to Deputy Teegarden successfully locating and rescuing this woman. Her life was saved that day because of them! The Missouri Chapter of APCO is proud to recognize these Cass County Sheriff’s public safety professionals as Missouri Teammates in Action.
Learn more about the Teammates in Action program, past recipients or nominate someone today by visiting our Teammates in Action page!