Community Pride Public Safety

Sugar Land recognizes five employees with life-saving awards

The City of Sugar Land has recognized five of its employees for various life-saving efforts over the past year. The City would like to thank each of these employees for their heroics in keeping others safe in times of need. Way to go, y’all! Read more about their stories below.

Officer Daniel Barbarick and Officer Demarcus Mitchell

Officers responded to 13100 of US 59 South to conduct a welfare check involving a disabled vehicle. As they were assisting with the tow of the disabled vehicle, a black truck collided with the back of an Officer’s patrol unit as he was sitting inside causing severe damage. Officer Daniel Barbarick arrived and located the patrol vehicle with catastrophic damage from a rear impact that had pushed the vehicle into the main moving lanes of traffic. Upon contact with the Officer at the driver’s side door, Officer Barbarick’s assessment of the Officer determined the need for immediate life-saving measures and quickly removed the injured Officer from his patrol vehicle. With the assistance of several civilians who had stopped to help, Officer Barbarick moved the injured Officer away from the initial point of impact. Officer Barbarick then provided a brief status update to dispatch, but before he could proceed with further assessment and care, an additional vehicle struck the original striking vehicle that had been disabled from the wreck. An ongoing assessment of the risk of additional injuries from the vehicles strewn across the roadway then prompted Officers Barbarick, with the assistance of Officer Demarcus Mitchell, to move the injured Officer even further away from the points of impact to continue care. Once the injured Officer was as far from traffic as possible, Officers Mitchell and Barbarick worked to maintain an open airway and immediately began the chest compressions of CPR.  Officers Barbarick and Mitchell maintain patient care until the arrival of Fire-EMS staff. Officer Barbarick and Mitchell then assist with transferring the injured Officer to the stretcher and then to the ambulance. The relatively simple, but critical, task of providing these respirations contributed to the positive outcome of the injured Officer.

Officer Daniel Barbarick and Officer Andrew Nowak

Sugar Land Police Department Officers were dispatched to a Domino’s Pizza in reference to a shooting with two possible patients and multiple wounds.  Officers arrived in approximately three minutes and quickly made their way to the glass employee entrance door that was shattered by several bullets, but still intact. Once inside, they were able to ascertain that the shooter was no longer on location, and identified one victim. The responding Officers found an adult male seated in a chair. He was awake and oriented but had a significant amount of blood on his clothing. Officers Daniel Barbarick and Andrew Nowak worked together to pass medical equipment between them, cut away the victim’s clothing to search for the wounds, communicated their findings and needs, and then applied appropriate aid for the injuries discovered, all while maintaining a conversation with the victim to help reassure him and keep him calm. Once Fire-EMS staff responded to the scene, the Officers communicated a summary of the 5-6 wounds they located, and the possible caliber of the weapon used. The Fire-EMS Staff that responded to the scene all agree the measures taken by these Officers had undeniable impact on the survivability of the patient. 

Michael Dimitri

Chief Jerod Vontz, received a phone call from a Captain with Houston Fire Department Station 63 regarding the off duty efforts of one of our Fire-EMS staff during a cardiac arrest incident at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Captain states a gentleman went unresponsive in his seat on the plane. Airline staff solicited help from on board healthcare professionals and Michael Dimitri, along with an off-duty Registered Nurse (RN), immediately jumped into action. The patient had a faint pulse as Michael and the RN removed him from his seat and out of the plane to begin care. Once off the plane, the patient went into cardiac arrest and they both began CPR. They activated 911, utilized an AED and performed seven rounds of CPR prior to the arrival of Houston Fire Department units. Michael and the RN continued to provide care and assisted Houston Fire personnel with resuscitation efforts until the patient was loaded for transport. The Captain states that Michael was extremely helpful, professional, and fell into the chain of survival exceptionally well. The was most impressed when he heard Michael tell the airline staff to leave without him and he would catch another flight, as well as Michael asking at the end of the on scene efforts if he was ok to depart for his flight. The outcome of the patient is unknown, but the Captain would like our Fire-EMS Department to know of the exceptional job Michael did while off duty in the efforts to save this patient.

%d bloggers like this: