| ODOT Burns and Juntura Maintenance Crew members help in Amber Alert rescue |
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| ODOT News |
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Keeping Oregon highways safe for everyone is an all encompassing undertaking for ODOT employees. While fixing guardrail, resurfacing roadways, engineering safer intersections and the like are the more typical tasks of the day, state highway workers are well known for going above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to helping others in need. This was certainly the case on April 22, when about a dozen District 14 Maintenance crew members in a remote section of Region 5 played a significant role in the rescue of a small boy and the apprehension of two suspected child abductors.
Around 9:30 a.m. eight Burns and two Juntura Maintenance crew members were performing shoulder work near “The Narrows” along Oregon Highway 205 south of Burns when they overheard alarming information on the shared ODOT/Oregon State Police radio system. The communication indicated a five-year-old boy had been kidnapped from his Burns area foster home by two people and was possibly headed towards Bend on U.S. 20, a different highway far from where they were working. An official Amber Alert message for the abduction had not yet been made and the car description details were not confirmed, but ODOT crew members knew they needed to keep their eyes peeled by taking a closer look at the vehicles and passengers moving though their work zone. An eleventh crew member, Elmer Cooper, was spraying weeds further south on the highway near mile point 40, but wasn’t in an area with a clear radio signal and hadn't yet heard about the incident.
At this same time, ODOT Burns/Juntura Maintenance Manager Mike Crow was headed south towards Burns on U.S. 395. He had heard the initial reports and was keeping a watchful eye on passing traffic. After a vehicle description was giving, Crow talked to Bev Schmidt in ODOT’s Station 4 Dispatch Center in Bend to advise he hadn't seen the black Toyota Camry described by OSP. He also communicated to the crew members working on Oregon 205 to be on the look out.
By the time the ODOT employees at “The Narrows” heard a clear description of the car they realized a matching vehicle did pass through the work zone, but only a driver and no passengers were spotted. One member of the crew, Gary Estep, recalled some of the letters and numbers of the suspected vehicle and passed the information to OSP through Station Four Dispatch. Most of the license plate information Estep recalled matched the suspect’s vehicle, which lead OSP and Harney County Sheriff cruisers to race towards Burns, then south on Oregon 205. The highway connects to county roads that lead across the state line into Nevada, so law enforcement in that area were also notified that the vehicle was headed their way.
“We were pretty excited we had a shot of catching this guy,” said Crow. “If our crews had known ahead of time, they could have blocked the roadway and slowed them down enough for OSP to capture them in the work zone.”
As further confirmation they had spotted the right vehicle, Cooper had moved to a location with clearer radio communication fifteen miles south of the work zone and reported he too saw the black Camry. This time a child could be seen in the car with the driver. This new information had law enforcement stepping up the chase.
“ODOT crews at “The Narrows” work site adjusted their traffic control to allow safe and speedy passage of the five OSP and sheriff cruisers as they raced to the rescue,” Crow said.
With Oregon and Nevada law enforcement closing in, it was only a matter of time.
“They were finally caught in Denio, just across the Nevada state line,” Crow said. “He must have really been booking to get that far after passing our work zone.”
Besides Estep and Cooper, additional ODOT Burns Maintenance employees working on Oregon Highway 205 that day were Jeff Fulton, Ken Zander, Tom McCulloch, Curt Carlson, Don Tallan, Sam Duke and Stan Attleberger. Dick Wilson and Charles Higgins from the Juntura crews were also helping that day with the shoulder work. They all played a part in observing traffic, communicating crucial information to OSP and keeping the work zone safe in an emergency situation.
After cheers upon hearing the boy was safe, it was business as usual for the District 14 maintenance folks who continued with the shoulder repair.
All in a day’s work for ODOT Region 5 employees.
“I’m really proud of everyone involved, including Bev and the other folks at ODOT Dispatch,” Crow said. “Even before the Amber Alert was made official they knew just what to do and helped keep this kid safe.”
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