Hurlburt Field rescuers help crash victims, save lives

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Randy Phelps
  • Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFPN) --  There were people staggering and people screaming. It was total chaos.

That was the scene Tech. Sgt. Mike Gray, a pararescueman assigned to the 720th Special Tactics Group here said he saw as he and his wife turned the corner from their home in nearby Fort Walton Beach early April 9.

Eight bicycle riders, several from here, had pulled over in front of a convenience store outside the base’s gate after one of the bikes had blown a tire. As the riders were standing off the road, waiting while the tire was being repaired, a woman driving a minivan drifted off the road and plowed through the group, officials said.

The woman has been charged with one count of driving under the influence for serious bodily injury and four counts of DUI for personal injury, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.

Randy Seeback, a retired combat controller who works as a contractor here, was driving his vehicle in front of the minivan. A bicyclist himself, Mr. Seeback said he had looked to see if he knew any of the riders as he was passing by, but he did not.

Then he heard the crash.

“When I turned around and looked, the van was almost right next to me off the shoulder and going through the ditch,” he said. “She was going pretty fast, and I don’t think she hit her brakes at all. There were bikes and people falling off the van.”

Mr. Seeback said he pulled out a cell phone and dialed 911.

“I reacted. I didn’t think much about how to get started,” he said. “I called, got people there and started helping people do things.”

Soon after Mr. Seeback made the call to 911, Sergeant Gray pulled around the corner.

“Many times, combat controllers are talking on the radio and bringing in the choppers and doing the mass casualties while the (pararescuemen) are doing the treatment,” Sergeant Gray said. “To me, (Mr. Seeback) was the on-scene commander. We just started treating people like a normal triage situation.”

There were bicycles and people strung out about 100 yards along the road from where the van first hit the group to where it came to a rest in a water-filled ditch on the side of the road, officials said.

Sergeant Gray, a pararescueman for about 12 years, said he always travels with his medical kit in his car, so he began treating people. The first person was unconscious. He said he opened the man’s airway, but there was little else he could do for him, so he started down the line.

Another man was screaming with a broken leg. Sergeant Gray said he did a quick assessment and found he had no major bleeding problems, so he continued on. Then he went to the van where other people were screaming and found a woman under the van, face down in the water. With the help of other people who had stopped, Sergeant Gray pulled the woman from under the van.

“She was in waist-deep water, face down and in shock. She would have been dead for sure,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Seeback continued to go up and down the road assessing the injuries, while Sergeant Gray’s wife, Anne, went back to get another medical bag from their house.

“Basically, I was talking to people and asking them where they were hurt and not trying to alarm them,” Mr. Seeback said.

With 24 years of combat controller experience behind him, he said he stayed calm and tried to make sure the rest of the injured people did not go into shock. He also had to calm one of the riders who wanted to confront the driver.

“(The driver) was not injured, but she was very hysterical. I told the rider that this wasn’t the time or place. The injured needed help,” Mr. Seeback said.

As emergency responders began arriving on scene, Mr. Seeback and Sergeant Gray said they continued to provide care to the riders.

“(Mr. Seeback) was directing the triage situation to the emergency personnel, and I was barking out what I needed to the paramedics, and they were tossing it to me without skipping a beat,” Sergeant Gray said.

They said they both helped emergency responders put the injured onto backboards and load them onto stretchers.

With all the intense activity going on, Sergeant Gray said he did not have time to identify himself the paramedics until the action died down, but they seemed to know he knew what he was doing.

“Having people around like these two guys is a resource that’s unknown until something happens,” said Capt. Troy Smith, of a local fire department, who was one of first emergency responders on the scene. “It was very nice having someone who knew what they were doing and knew how to care and finesse the injured without causing greater harm.”

Sergeant Gray said he is no stranger to crisis situations like this. During the course of his normal duties, he has responded to aircraft crashes and head-on collisions. He said he has even been a first responder to about eight off-duty accidents over the years.

“That’s why we always travel with a med kit,” he said. “If a person’s dying, you do what you’re trained to do, and you save a life.”