Local man awarded for heroic act in saving a life; Sheriff Jenson presents awards

Jeff Teague, an independent owner operator leased to Adams & Sons Truckingwas awarded the Bowman Police Department’s Civilian Life Saving Award yesterday afternoon by Cheyenne County Sherriff John Jenson.

Teague was sent the award by Bowman Chief of Police Charles Headley who regretfully could not make it to Sidney to present the award in person.

“On behalf of a grateful community we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Jeff A. Teague for his keen observation and actions of rendering aid to an unconscious man and alerting emergency services to the scene on the early morning hours of Jan. 24,” wrote Headley in a letter.

“Had it not been for Teague’s act of coming to the aid of his fellow man on that dangerously cold morning, with wind chill temperatures registering 30 degrees below zero, the man would have certainly perished.”

“I didn’t do anything special; just saw somebody in need,” said Teague.

Teague, who has been working for Adams Industries since Nov. of 2010, said that it was approximately 2:30 a.m. and the roads were slick and icy when he happened upon the man.

“I was just coming down through town and everything had about a couple inches of snow on it so he kind of stood out pretty good,” he said.

“I just happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye and I looked and thought ‘boy that sure looks like a person.’ So I called 911 and I circled the block.”

Teague said while he called 911 and approached the man he found him, “somewhat conscious and not really coherent.

“I managed to get him into a sitting position. The dispatcher asked if I could get him in my truck and I told her I didn’t think I could. The Come and Go was about a block and a half from where he was so he half-stumbled and I half-carried him down there,” said Teague. “There were two people working there and we got him to hold onto a cup of coffee. His hands were bright red, just like his cheeks and ears. Then the ambulance got there.”

Teague said that the chief of police told him the man’s body temperature had been 90 and that the medical staff figured another 15 or 20 minutes out in the snow and he would have died.

“I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and noticed him,” said the hero.

Not only did Teague receive an award from the chief of police on behalf of the grateful city of Bowman, N.D., but also Adams Trucking received a certificate of appreciation in recognition of Teague’s heroic actions. Sheriff Jenson presented the award to Don Adams.

“There are times when the actions of individuals can have a direct meaningful impact on another person’s life. Often we do not think about what brought that person to be in the right place at the right time. It is with that I strongly feel that Adams Trucking is very deserving in recognition of having one of those individuals in the service of your company,” said Headley in a letter addressed to the company.

“I do not personally know Jeff Teague or how he came into your service, but speaking for the community we are grateful you saw in him a number of positive attributes which allowed Jeff to be part of your team, in which Adams Trucking placed him in the right place at the right time in saving another’s life.”

“Adams is proud of the fact that over the past two years we have really reworked our hiring process and our driver qualification process,” said Brian Wilbur, the safety director at Adams Industries. “Jeff is just a great example of the quality drivers that we have.”

“This is for the great people that you hire, Mr. Adams,” said Jenson while presenting Adams with the award.