October 14, 2015 - LUFKIN – The Texas Department of Transportation Extra Mile Award was given to an Angelina County maintenance crew at an annual state event on Tuesday for rescuing an elderly couple from floodwaters in May.
The four-man crew was honored at the 89th Annual Transportation Short Course at the Rudder Theater Auditorium on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. The yearly conference recognizes crews from around the state that go above and beyond their jobs in stressful situations in an effort to help someone else.
TxDOT Executive Director Gen. Joe Weber USMC (Retired) presented the award to crewmembers Josh Bobbitt, supervisor, and Charles Steele, Kelly Collins and Michael Pyle. The honorees were also treated to a special invitation only luncheon following the morning session.
“I am very proud of Josh, Charles, Michael and Kelly, who saw an immediate need and took action to avert a potential tragedy,” said Cheryl Flood, Lufkin district engineer. “Their commitment to the people of Texas in their daily duties is a trait among all the men and women in our maintenance operations, but this act displays particular dedication to the safety of our traveling public. These men are very deserving of this recognition for going the ‘extra mile’.”
The men were monitoring rising floodwaters May 11 on FM 2497 when they were alerted to a vehicle that had washed off the roadway. With water already nearly waist-high inside the small car, Bobbitt and his crew devised a way to rescue an elderly couple from inside the vehicle by using a front-end loader that was nearby. The men worked together to extricate the couple from the vehicle and load them into the loader bucket. The bucket extended over the flood waters to a waiting ambulance. No one was seriously injured in this very dangerous incident.
For more information, contact Rhonda.Oaks@txdot.gov or (936) 633-4395.
