State Trooper Receives Commander’s Award for Rescue

SAINT MARY S COUNTY, Md. — Trooper First Class Tabitha Mattingly received a Commander’s Award yesterday for her role in locating and rescuing a father and daughter who were lost in a wooded area of Saint Mary’s County in December 2009. In a ceremony at Maryland State Police, Aviation Command Headquarters, Major A.J. McAndrew said TFC Mattingly executed this mission in an exemplary fashion.

In the late evening hours of December 21, 2009, Maryland State Police helicopter Trooper 7, based in St. Mary s County, was requested to assist in locating a father and daughter who were lost in the woods in the Mechanicsville area. The father and daughter were following the trail of a wounded deer when they became lost in the woods. During their trek, they crossed through a swampy area and were soaked from the waist down. The pair had been in the woods for nearly seven hours and were poorly dressed for the 20 degree temperatures.

In spite of darkness and mobility limited by high-tension power lines, TFC Mattingly and Pilot James MacKay located the father and daughter. The flight crew identified a wide creek to the south of the lost subjects, the very direction from which ground search crews were approaching. Because of tree cover and the power lines, landing at the scene or hoisting the victims were not feasible. Realizing that ground rescuers would not reach the victims for a significant period of time; the crew of Trooper 7 decided the best available option was to land at a nearby farm. TFC Mattingly and Mr. MacKay landed, hiked about mile into the woods, and located the victims.

TFC Mattingly and Mr. MacKay were the first rescuers to locate the victims. Having been wet and in the woods for so long, the daughter was in moderate to severe hypothermia; she could no longer feel either of her legs, she was shivering, and was not alert.

As the flight crew made their way out of the woods with the victims, ground rescuers arrived with a four wheel drive vehicle along with the property owner with his tractor. The victims were loaded into a vehicle and taken directly to an awaiting ambulance.

Trooper 7 is based at the Duke Regional Airport in California, Maryland. The men and women of the Maryland State Police Aviation Command performed 410 similar rescue operations in 2009 in addition to over 6300 to medevac, law enforcement, homeland security, and other operational missions for the citizens of Maryland.

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