When Sgt. Kenny Holt arrived at the scene of a car crash in Ijamsville last May, he was surprised to find that the woman trapped underneath her sports utility vehicle was a fellow Montgomery County Police officer.
‘‘You get a God-awful feeling in your stomach,” he said upon seeing off-duty Detective Alanna Ward in distress.
‘‘We had just lost an officer a month before that,” he said, referring to Officer Luke Hoffman, who died after a police cruiser struck him as he chased a man in Aspen Hill. ‘‘All of those things started running together.”
Holt is a member of the emergency services section of the police department’s Special Operations Division and was one of the 56 people honored by the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore for saving Ward’s life.
Four members of the Hyattstown Volunteer Fire Department were also among those honored at the event, which was held at April 26 the Baltimore Convention Center.
Ward was driving south on Interstate 270 between Bennett Creek and Hyattstown when a driver clipped the rear of her sports utility vehicle, causing it to roll over a few times and trapping her underneath, according to a press release issued by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which runs the shock trauma center.
Her son, Bradley Mellott, then 19, was able to get out of the vehicle without help.
The four members of the Hyattstown Volunteer Fire Department were the first to arrive at the scene and took care of Ward until other firefighters and rescuers arrived.
They assessed Ward’s condition and called for a state trooper to help, said Hyattstown Deputy Chief Jeff Gross, one of the four firefighters involved in saving Ward.
Emergency units from Frederick County, Urbana and upper Montgomery County soon arrived to help, as well, Gross said. Firefighters stabilized the sports utility vehicle while a steam company from Frederick lifted the vehicle, he said.
‘‘It was a group effort,” Gross said. ‘‘It was one of the most unbelievable scenarios I have ever had to deal with over the years.”
Holt flew in the helicopter with his colleague and helped her breathe.
When Ward arrived at the Baltimore Shock Trauma Center, her heart stopped. The trauma team gave her blood and her pulse returned, but her oxygen level was very low and her lung had to be removed after suffering severe damage, the hospital press release reports.
Ward, a detective with the First District Station in Rockville, is still recovering from her injuries. Nonetheless, she attended the awards ceremony last month and said all of the people who won awards worked hard to save her life.
The shock trauma center honored 56 people, including doctors and nurses, for the roles they played in Ward’s rescue.
‘‘It was an emotional evening,” Ward said. ‘‘I was honored to be there. It was good to be able to meet all of the people that played a part in saving my life.”
Sgt. Michael Ward of the Fourth District station in Wheaton and husband of Alanna Ward said it took emergency personnel an hour to get her from underneath the car.
‘‘She shouldn’t have survived,” Michael Ward said of his wife. ‘‘If it wasn’t for the actions of every single person that responded from the beginning to the end, she wouldn’t be here right now.”
Alanna Ward has worked in the Rockville police station her entire career, first as a patrol officer and then as a detective. Many officers have donated their annual leave to her because her leave has run out, Michael Ward said.
‘‘I think it can be considered a miracle that she survived,” said Lucille Baur, a spokeswoman for the county police department. ‘‘Our department has been trying to provide support throughout the ordeal. She has made progress fighting back through the injuries but she has a long way to go.”
Ward remained on a ventilator for 75 days and stayed at the shock trauma center four months after the incident.
‘‘I’m still recovering,” she said Friday. ‘‘It has been a long journey. I spent most of this year in the hospital in shock trauma. I have come a long way and I still have a long way to go. I’m still hoping for a full enough recovery to make it back to my job.”
