By FireRescue1 Staff
GREENE COUNTY, Mo. — A man is crediting the quick actions of two sheriff’s deputies and an off-duty firefighter for saving his life this past September.
Springfield News-Leader reported that a 911 caller reported a suspicious man and woman walking in a neighborhood. Deputies arrived and a man carjacked Troy Rieth’s car. Rieth and Deputy Austin Adams tried to stop the man, who later hit Rieth with the truck. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and doesn’t remember hitting his head.
Deputies Adams and Justin Hall said Rieth was unresponsive and appeared to have life-threatening injuries. An off-duty firefighter, Micah Latch, with the Ebenezer Fire Protection District, was looking for a house to buy nearby.
Latch saw Adams and Hall performing CPR and went over to help.
“I guess that proves there’s a bigger fate,” Latch said.
Rieth, a married father of two, spent a month in the hospital and another month going to rehab. He presented plaques to the three who helped save his life.
A man has been charged with robbery, armed criminal action, assault, assaulting a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and tampering with a motor vehicle in connection with the incident.