Live-Saving Awards Presented in Jackson County

Jackson, MN (KICD) — A Minnesota State Trooper, a tow truck operator, and a County Deputy have been given life-saving awards for actions they took at the scene of a traffic accident on the interstate near Jackson in December.

Sheriff Shawn Haken tells us Trooper Thomas Saunders and tow truck operator Justin Warmke were attempting to pull a pickup out of the median on interstate 90 back on December 27th, when they witnessed another vehicle enter the ditch in the same spot and wind up on its top. Five people were inside. Three received minor injuries, one was more serious, and the fifth was not breathing.

Luckily Deputy Caleb Cihak was close, and all Jackson County squad cars are equipped with portable defibrillators.

The crash report filed that day by the Minnesota State Patrol listed the driver as 38 year old Mendoza Magana of Granada, Minnesota. 54 year old Raymundo Rosales is the passenger taken to the hospital in Sioux Falls.