Flag dispatcher honored for lifesaving effort

FLAGSTAFF, AZ — Jeff Boatman was unconscious in the hospital for two weeks after he crashed in his UH-1H Huey helicopter south of the Grand Canyon in November.

Two months later, the 57-year-old can now stand from his wheelchair and walk very short distances.

But Boatman counts himself blessed. He says if it weren’t for fortunate seat positioning, he might not have legs at all. An even more frightening scenario would have been if the fuel tanks had exploded in the hour or so he spent trapped inside the wreckage.

All through the ordeal, Roseanne Rodriguez, an emergency dispatcher in Flagstaff, kept him company. Through 42 minutes of agonizing pain, she talked to him about everything from his kids and love of flying, to how terrible the Arizona Cardinals were playing.

Rodriguez received the Life Saving Award from the Flagstaff Police Department on Wednesday in recognition of her efforts.

1ST TIME IN 17 YEARS

At around 8:30 a.m., Boatman was flying four miles south of the Valle airport on the same trip he’d made virtually every week for 17 years, delivering goods to the Havasupai Tribe.

A transmission malfunction light came on and his helicopter made a loud mechanical sound before it yawed sideways dramatically. The transmission had frozen, which Boatman says is an incredibly rare thing to happen to a Huey. He managed to control the helicopter just enough to avoid the power lines and as he got close to the ground, the rotors stopped turning completely.

The aircraft plummeted, coming to a rest upside down.

“This would be like you driving down the freeway and your steering wheel falls off in your hands,” Boatman said.

Inside the wreckage, Boatman, who worked as a firefighter and EMT in Glendale for 12 years, was able to take stock of his situation. There was broken Plexiglas everywhere. The center console — where the fuel shutoff switch should be — had been obliterated. One of the helicopter’s parts was eventually found a half-mile away from the rest of the wreckage.

Boatman couldn’t feel anything from his waist down, but putting his fingers to his stomach, he could tell he wasn’t bleeding uncontrollably. His whole left side would eventually turn black from bruises. He found his knife and cell phone so he could cut himself from his seatbelt and call 911.

Rodriguez answered the call.

“I’m in a helicopter crash,” he told her.

‘SHE KEPT ME TALKING’

Boatman and Rodriguez met for the first time on Wednesday and embraced in an emotional hug. Pilots from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Guardian Medical were there as well. The four talked about what happened from their perspective.

“I appreciate you being there,” he told her on Wednesday. “It was nice to have somebody in the aircraft telling me the progress. She kept me talking.”

In a recording of the 911 call, Rodriguez makes small talk with him as his voice moves from calm but excited to sleepy, as he battles with losing consciousness.

“I’m still here with you, Jeff,” she repeatedly tells him.

She also repeatedly encourages him not to jump to conclusions about his medical prognosis, which he knew from his EMT experience wasn’t good.

“Don’t think like that,” Rodriguez tells him. “I know it’s hard when you’re in the situation.”

“Tell my wife and kids I love them,” he says.

Approximately 40 minutes after crashing, Boatman heard a helicopter approach, but knew from the sound it wasn’t the correct model. It was a private tour aircraft from the Grand Canyon, which was able to take Boatman’s GPS coordinates and get medical support to him faster. Right on its heels were the Guardian Medical and DPS helicopters.

“When I heard the helicopter finally, I was just like, ‘Oh, thank goodness,’” Boatman said.

QUICK TURNAROUND

They got him to the hospital within two hours of the crash, a quick turnaround for reaching the remote location, extricating him from the aircraft and returning him to the Flagstaff Medical Center.

The Guardian medics continued to fly through the day and then came back to visit Boatman at the emergency room and called his wife, Anne, to let her know her husband was OK.

Boatman was released from the St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Phoenix to the care of his wife on Christmas Eve.

“Rosy, I thought you did a fantastic job and we are just very proud of you,” Acting Police Chief Kevin Treadway told the dispatcher on Wednesday. “Your actions represent the very best work that is done in this 911 center and you are commended for your actions,” he read from a commendation letter.

Boatman is recovering faster than doctors originally expected and he thinks he should be able to resume flying in the future.

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