Arizona paramedic helped save DPS colleague after crash

DPS paramedic Russ Dodge helped transport one of his colleagues from State Route 87 near Payson to a Phoenix hospital after a vehicle crashed in stormy weather Monday evening.

Ansumana Dukuly, a Department of Public Safety employee for about a year and a half, had been responding to an emergency call in the area when the rollover occurred, according to DPS spokesman Carrick Cook.

Dodge said he treated the accident no differently than others, despite Dukuly's affiliation with DPS.

"Initially, it kind of takes your breath away, but then you compartmentalize that information," he said. "You have to set it aside and then you have to do your job. We treat our officers, we treat firefighters, we treat the public, we treat criminals. We have protocols, and we're there to help people and save lives."

Dodge and his crew assessed the weather, which was drizzling at the time, contacted officers at the scene of the accident and coordinated a location on the highway for them to land. Though conditions were not ideal for the air rescue, Dukuly's injuries were severe enough to warrant helicopter transport for immediate medical assistance at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital.

The commute from the scene to the hospital was about a half hour. DPS air crews are trained to work within the confines of the aircraft to prevent further injuries from occurring and stabilizing a patient's condition, he said.

An air rescue during stormy weather can be difficult and unpredictable, said Steve Basler, a DPS Air Rescue pilot. Weather radar is not always indicative of the storm a pilot may be flying into and Arizona's geographical features can change the weather quickly, making local knowledge especially vital to the job, he said.

Two DPS officers, 27-year-old Richard Stratman and 36-year-old Thomas McNeff, died in early October 1983 after flying in stormy weather to transport a pregnant woman from Catalina to a Tucson medical facility. Their helicopter crashed in a cotton field near Marana.

"One important thing to remember is that there's a crew that acts as a checks and balance in decision making," Basler said. "My crew also has to be comfortable flying into a storm."

Southbound State Route 87 was closed five miles south of Payson after Dukuly's single-vehicle accident, according to Arizona Department of Transportation.

There is no word on when Dukuly will be released from the hospital, but Cook said his recovery will be slow. It is too early to determine whether or not he will be returning to work at DPS.