The Lebanon Daily News
HERSHEY, Penn. — State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan on Friday presented the State Police Medal of Honor to two troopers who entered raging floodwaters in Schuylkill County in March to pull an elderly man from his submerged car.
Noonan made the presentation to troopers Jeffrey A. Hummel, 36, and Kurt S. Salak, 43, during the department’s annual awards ceremony at the State Police Academy in Hershey. Both troopers are assigned to the Patrol Unit at Troop L, Schuylkill Haven.
“The gallant efforts of these two men went far above and beyond the call of duty,” Noonan said. “They placed their own lives in jeopardy in an attempt to save the life of another. Each is deserving of the State Police Medal of Honor, which is the department’s highest award.”
On March 10, Hummel and Salak donned life jackets and entered rising floodwaters in an attempt to reach David Sallada, 74, of Tremont, who had driven his Dodge Stratus around barricades blocking the flooded road and into water along Route 645 near Route 443 in Pine Grove Township, police said. When state police and Ravine Fire Co. rescuers arrived, the car was sinking, police said.
The troopers, who were tethered to emergency crews on the scene, smashed the vehicle’s windows to enter the submerged car. They pulled Sallada from the car, and emergency crews pulled the troopers and Sallada from the water. Sallada, however, did not survive. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Schuylkill County coroner Joseph Lipsett, police said.
Salak and Hummel were transported to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia, police said. Salak suffered a serious cut to his right forearm, and Hummel suffered minor cuts.
Hummel is a six-year veteran of the state police, while Salak has been with the department for four years.
Copyright 2011 Lebanon Daily News