DURANGO Jeremy Moseley and his brother-in-law were driving to Cortez on U.S. Highway 160 when they saw smoke on the horizon.
Judging from the dark color, Moseley, a former Cortez resident, knew it couldnt be a wildfire. A line of cars had backed up when the men arrived on the scene, where minutes earlier two cars had collided and burst into flames. They immediately got out and started helping the two survivors of the crash, Leslie Wachter McDonald and her son Kellen, who had emerged from their burning car. Three others had died in the crash.
I felt like it was my service to humanity, Moseley said. I feel it should be everybodys job to help out.
Moseley, his brother-in-law Steven Aragon, of Hesperus and two other men, Garan Shaw of Mancos and Jeff McMunn of Durango were the first passers-by to rush from their vehicles to help rescue the victims of the fiery crash March 22.
On Thursday, the men were awarded Certificates of Honor from the Colorado State Patrol for their roles helping the McDonalds after the crash. The award is the highest recognition the State Patrol offers to the public.
The four men ran to the scene when many would have run away, said Chad Chaddick, a parole supervisor with the Colorado Department of Corrections, who worked with Robert McDonald, Leslies husband who died in the crash.
What could have been far worse, the three deaths could have been five deaths, Chaddick said. Because of the actions of the four of you, two people survived.
The March accident happened just after 5 p.m. when David James Hooper was traveling westbound on U.S. Highway 160 in his 2011 Chevy pickup when it crossed the double-yellow line and entered the eastbound lane, colliding head-on with the McDonalds 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. Robert Bobby McDonald and their son Jaden, 10, were killed in the accident. Hooper also died at the time of the crash.
Shaw was the first to arrive at the crash, he said. He was going to his birthday party in Durango. A trained first-responder, Shaw helped guide Leslie McDonald to the side of the road and pat her off with snow while others cared for Kellen, he said.
I drive that way every day, and I think about it every time I go by, he said.
McMunn, the other award recipient, was not present at the awards ceremony. Leslie and Kellen McDonald could not attend either because both are in treatment.
The award ceremony also honored Jonathan Hardy, a civilian, and Southern Ute Tribe Ranger Mark Kempinski. The men received certificates of appreciation from the State Patrol for saving the life of a truck driver on Colorado Highway 151 on June 1.
When presenting the awards, Chief of Colorado State Patrol Col. James Wolfinbarger made note of the tragic circumstances.
Unfortunately, most of the time that we have the opportunity to recognize private citizens, and residents and passers-by in Colorado, oftentimes it is connected to tragedy, he said. But I think thats part of the spirit of what makes a community a community.
For Aragon, like the other men who received certificates of honor, it was hard to put words to his experience helping the victims of the crash.
We did what we could do, he said.