Girl, mother stranded in Bunker Hill after car breaks down
KOKOMO-TRIBUNE
BUNKER HILL – Miami County deputies and state troopers helped transport a young girl and her mom to Riley’s Children Hospital in Indianapolis for an emergency surgery after their car broke down near Bunker Hill.
Deputy Ron Dausch said a mother was driving her 10-year-old daughter from South Bend to Indianapolis at around 8:20 a.m. Thursday when their car started overheating, so the mother pulled into the Marathon gas station at the corner of U.S. 31 and Indiana 218.
After that, the car wouldn’t go into gear, leaving them stranded.
That was bad news, since the girl was scheduled for an emergency surgery at Riley Hospital to remove a tumor from her abdomen.
When Dausch arrived on scene, he said the mother informed him that her daughter had cancer, for which she had received treatment. However, three days earlier, the 10-year-old began showing dangerous symptoms again.
The mother called Riley, and doctors said they needed to perform surgery immediately to remove the tumor.
Now, with only two hours left before the surgery was to begin, the family was stranded near Bunker Hill.
Dausch radioed dispatchers to set up an emergency transport for the girl to get her to at least Tipton County, where deputies there could take her as far as they could.
However, Lt. Jeremy Kelly, district commander of the Indiana State Police post in Peru, heard the call come over the radio and decided to send troopers to get her all the way the hospital as quick as possible.
“It was definitely dire and we needed to get her down there,” he said.
Dausch said the mother started crying when she learned officers would provide her and her daughter a ride to Indianapolis.
“This was going to be a little more exciting for them than just driving down there on their own,” he said. “They couldn’t thank us enough.”
Soon, a trooper had the family loaded up in his squad car speeding down U.S. 31. They met another state trooper at U.S. 31 and Interstate 465, who delivered the family safely to the hospital just in time for the surgery.
Dausch said it was a close call, and he was glad to help get the 10-year-old girl to her surgery on time.
“You hear all the bad stuff about police, but this is the kind of thing people don’ hear about that makes the job worth it,” he said.