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Several Jackson County Deputies & Another Person Honored For Saving A Life

February 08, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(Jackson, Mn.)– Several Jackson county sheriff’s deputies and a citizen have received special recognition for their heroics in a crash December 27th, 2022. Sheriff Shawn Haken…

“Back on December 27th we were kinda digging out of that blizzard that two day blizzard that we had before Christmas Eve. And the 27th was fairly quiet, eerily quiet for us in terms of crashes and whatnot. The roads were pretty good but that afternoon the ice started to form on some patches mainly on I-90.”

Haken says Trooper Saunders and Justin Warmka of Warmka Towing were pulling a car out of the ditch when another vehicle, filled with five people and a dog went into the ditch across the road from them, but this vehicle rolled and ended up on its roof. Trooper Saunders called for assistance as he and Warmka responded to that crash. Three occupants sustained minor injuries but two others had more severe ones. One occupant did not have a pulse, but through taking turns doing CPR, they were able to resuscitate the person, with Deputy Cihak also arriving and assisting in life saving measures before ambulance personnel arrived at the scene, with hospital staff saying that the three men certainly saved that person’s life…

“The actions of Trooper Saunders, Deputy Cihak, and Justin, had quite literally just saved the patient’s life as color returned and he became responsive.”

They all received awards from the county and were called heroes for their decisive actions in saving a life.

(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KKOJ in Jackson, Mn.)