Four men were honored at the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) meeting in Baton Rouge this afternoon, May 4.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Enforcement Sgt. Rusty Perry received the LDWF Enforcement Meritorious Service Award and Winn Parish Firefighter Buddy King received the LDWF Enforcement Citizens Meritorious Service Award at the meeting.
Sgt. Rusty Perry and Buddy King were notified about citizens trapped in their homes or stranded because of rising flood waters along the Dugdemona River east of Winnfield on March 10, 2016. Sgt. Perry and King attempted to get to this location by vessel through rapid and swift flood waters. While in route to the location, the vessel capsized because of the rough conditions.
Sgt. Perry and King remained with the capsized vessel while being pinned to trees from the strong flood waters and after several hours and failed rescue attempts were successfully airlifted from the water by a Louisiana Air National Guard helicopter crew. Sgt. Perry and King both risked their lives trying to help others. The helicopter crew will be honored at the June LWFC meeting.
LDWF Lt. Beau Robertson also received an LDWF Enforcement Life Saving Award while Phillip Trosclair received an LDWF Enforcement Citizens Exceptional Bravery Award at the LWFC meeting.
Lt. Robertson received a call on April 5, 2016 about two overdue 19-year-old men onboard a vessel that went on an offshore fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico out of Joseph’s Harbor on Rockefeller Refuge. Lt. Robertson and LDWF Rockefeller Refuge Manager Trosclair searched for the men overnight in rough conditions.
At approximately 9:30 a.m. on April 6, 2016, Lt. Robertson and Trosclair located the two men and their capsized 18-foot aluminum boat about 12 miles offshore south of the mouth of Joseph’s Harbor Bayou in the Gulf of Mexico. Trosclair was able to steer the vessel in rough seas to get close enough to the men for Lt. Robertson to pull the men into the rescue vessel.
Lt. Robertson and Trosclair rotated performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on one of the men, who was unresponsive, and operating the vessel until they reached the landing where an emergency personnel were waiting. The unresponsive man was pronounced dead at the hospital while the other man made a full recovery.
It was later learned that the survivor was suffering from extreme hypothermia and had just left the capsized the vessel in an effort to swim to an oil platform in the distance before Lt. Robertson and Trosclair arrived on the scene. It is unlikely that the survivor would have been able to reach the platform alive.