Police rescue man in woods on brink of death

RUTLAND, Mass. — A team of first responders rescued a Shrewsbury man who was hypothermic while lost in the woods in Rutland for more than eight hours Sunday morning.

Rutland Police Officer Diane Herzig spoke to the man’s mother, who had missed a call from her son while she was sleeping. He had wandered away from a house party on Bushy Lane around 3 a.m., and had become lost in the woods.

“She stated that she received a call from her son around five o’clock in the morning, stating that he was in the woods, he didn’t know where he was, he was wet and cold and needed help,” Herzig said. ”He said that his battery was on one percent, and in the middle of the voicemail message, the phone died.”

Police were able to ping his cell phone and find the last location he used it within a radius of a mile and a half.

Hubbardston Police Officer Jim Halkola helped coordinate search efforts, as Petersham Police Officer Bob Legare’s bloodhound Lucy led the track. Philipston Police Sgt. Bill Chapman assisted with the track, with help from Petersham Police Sgt. Dana Cooley.

Herzig said the team, as well as Rutland Fire and EMS, Hubbardston Fire and Mass State Police searched the woods, setting out at 10 a.m., and finally finding the man with Lucy’s lead around 11:30 a.m. Several first-responders carried the man about a mile out, bringing him to a waiting ambulance within an hour of finding him.

Rutland Fire paramedic Michael Gleason and EMT Maxine Gleason treated him, while EMT Mark Briand transported him to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

While in the woods, he had removed some of his clothing, likely feeling overheated due to hypothermia, further exposing himself to the elements. He was confused, tired and shaking. When he arrived at the hospital, after receiving fluids and warm blankets, his body temperature was 94 degrees, a paramedic told Herzig. A temperature of 93.5 degrees can be fatal, he said.

“The paramedics have all been telling me that it was probably an hour or so and it could have been a very different outcome,” Herzig said.

The man, whose full name police did not release, was discharged from the hospital Sunday night. His mother thanked rescuers for their efforts.

Herzig, who had agreed to work Sunday morning as an overtime shift, said, as a mother herself, she is grateful she was working.

“It makes you proud to be a police officer with outcomes like this,” Herzig said, becoming emotional. “That's why we do the job, is to get him out successfully and bring a son home to his mom.”

Cox Media Group