Sheriff Worrell honors Pulaski County deputies with lifesaving award

Pulaski County Sheriff Mike Worrell recently presented three deputies with a lifesaving award for an incident that occurred on November 10, 2017. Corporal Josh Bowden, Deputy Leon Crane and Deputy Jay Ezelle acted quickly to save the life of an individual and put out a fire. Here’s the story:

On November 10, 2017 shortly before midnight, Corporal Josh Bowden and Deputy Leon Crane responded to a 911 hang up call at the Travel Inn in Dublin, VA. Bowden and Crane arrived at the location and observed that the room the call came from was on fire. Bowden and Crane quickly acted by forcing the door open, entering the room with heavy fire and smoke and locating a person under the bed. The person then started fighting and assaulted one of the deputies. While Bowden and Crane was attempting to remove the person from the room, Deputy Jay Ezelle entered the room and started extinguishing the fire. The person was removed from the fire room as Deputy Ezelle put out the fire. It was determined that the person was suffering from mental health issues and was taken for treatment. All three deputies were treated and released from Lewis Gale Pulaski Hospital for smoke inhalation. Dublin and Newbern fire departments and REMSI EMS also responded to the incident.