WOOD RIVER - When a long-time police officer has to go on the other side as a first responder, it is a difficult situation, especially when it involves one of their children.
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Wood River Police Chief Brad Wells had that happen in May of 2018 when he received an early morning call that his son had been in a serious auto accident.
This past week, Chief Wells presented a Life-Saving Award to Jared Engelke and Justin Chambers of Alton Memorial Ambulance; Jarrid Horyn, Ted Luebbert and Kerri Fulkerson of the Hartford Fire Department; Mike Clohessy of the South Roxana Fire Department; officers Dan Geil and Matt Asbury of the Hartford Police Department; officers James Doyle, Lee Bazzell, and Mackenzie Sirtake of the Roxana Police Department; officer Pat Carrier of the South Roxana Police Department; Sgts. Darin Redden, Josh Timmins, Brady Greene and T/C Rick Militello of the Wood River Police Department; and citizen Ashton Murray.
Zach Wells’ vehicle caught fire that night in the crash and he had to be pulled from the vehicle. He suffered numerous injuries in the accident, but because of the quick work of the first responders, he was able to be transported quickly to a trauma center alive.
“The way whole thing went down as I got woke up by a phone call by the department and I assumed it was just waking me up to something within the department,” Chief Wells said. Sgt. Redden told me, my son, Zach, was involved in an accident. He said a car was coming down to take me to the accident."
"I next asked Sgt. Timmins how bad is it and he said he didn’t know really the extent of the accident," Chief Wells continued. "We got down to the levee at Hartford and the ambulance was leaving without its lights on and in my world that usually means there has been a death. I walked up to the levee and I froze. One of the firefighters saw me and asked if I was OK. I asked him is he dead? He said no, he is talking. I knew he was hurt and busted up but he was blinking his eyes, which at the time was all I could ask for. Both of Zach’s legs were broken, he had five broken ribs, a cracked vertebra in his back with a femur fracture. I was worried about him bleeding to death with both his legs broken. When asked where they should take him, I said Barnes in St. Louis.”
Chief Wells said he believes it was a miracle his son survived this crash and now has made enough recovery he will be able to proceed with a normal life.
“This was personal,” Chief Wells said. “This was my son and definitely by the grace of God I still have him. Words can’t express how much I appreciate what these first responders did that day."
Chief Wells closed by saying: "The award I gave them will never show they how much I appreciate what they did.”
