Public Works staff honored for assisting with plane crash rescue

Cited for acts of bravery and heroism

By Adam Broderick

Five staff members of Gunnison County Public Works were honored at a county commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, August 18 for their quick thinking and brave actions at the site of a plane crash in early June.

Shawn McConnell, Ken Webb, Dale Tillman, David Coleman and Scott Bever were the first on scene at a wreck involving a single-engine biplane near Cerro Summit on Hwy. 50, about 14 miles east of Montrose.

The crew was driving early in the morning when they witnessed the plane go down in a field just north of the road. They immediately pulled over and were able to extract the pilot from the wreckage and move him far from the highly flammable fuel that was spilling out of the plane. After moving the pilot to a safe location, the crew waited with him until medics arrived.

Marlene Crosby, director of Public Works, said that due to the crash site’s location behind the road embankment and guardrail, other cars passing by might not have seen it. Commissioners thanked the crew publicly Tuesday morning before gathering with them over snacks and beverages provided by the county.

Commissioner Paula Swenson commended the crew from the front of the meeting room. “The Gunnison County Board of Commissioners is honored to recognize the actions you took on June 3, 2015…Emergency response teams and Montrose County Sheriff’s Office have been very complimentary of the response that was provided by you…Without your quick thinking and actions, the accident’s outcome could have been very tragic,” she said.

Swenson closed with a quote from founding father Alexander Hamilton: “There’s a certain enthusiasm in liberty that makes human nature rise above itself in acts of bravery and heroism.”