Many first responders share the same worst-nightmare fear that chills them to their souls — responding to an emergency to find it involves your family.
Wyoming State Trooper Parker Smith lived that nightmare on the morning of Feb 12 when responding to a vehicle crash involving the severe injury of a small child. The child, 2-year-old Christian, is Smith’s own son.
One can imagine the terror Smith felt arriving on scene to discover the crashed vehicle was his family’s minivan, carrying his wife Aby, 4-year-old son PJ, and 2-year-old Christian, who wailed in his car seat with a gruesome gash on his head, according to a witness on scene.
Christian was seriously hurt and flown to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and then on to Children’s Hospital of Colorado, where he is being treated for a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, jaw and skull, among other injuries. He’s on a ventilator.
Aby and PJ were not seriously hurt.
What Happened?
Around 8 a.m. that Wednesday morning, Aby Smith was broadsided by a Goshen County snowplow while heading eastbound on Highway 85 through Torrington, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Andrew Frye.
The collision sounded like a tremendously loud gunshot, said witness Garret Davis, who was working across the street at Cool Customs auto body shop at the time of the incident. He ran to the crash, which he described as grim and distressing.
“When I got there, I saw the van's bumper was hanging off the snowplow,” Davis told Cowboy State Daily. “And the mom was already in the back seat tending to the kid. She was screaming and crying, trying to get him to stay with her. I panicked as soon as I saw the boy. He had a big cut on his head. It was ugly. It wasn’t good. I couldn't look at him long, I started getting queasy.”
Davis sprung to action to help in the one way he felt he could. He returned to his auto shop to get an electric ratchet and socket. His hands trembled with panic as he worked to remove the stuck side door on the minivan.
Trooper Smith and other responders arrived shortly after, and together they were able to unhinge and remove the door.
“Seeing a little boy in this car seat with a big head injury freaked me out,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘I need to get this kid out so he can have the best chance he can to live.’ All I could think about is what if this was my daughter.”
Spunky Kid
The crash has sent a shockwave of grief through the WHP community, who wait nervously for news of improvement.
As of Sunday, 2-year-old Christian was still in bad condition, according to Lt. Andrew Frye, who speaks daily with Trooper Smith.
Christian was momentarily taken off medical sedation for evaluation Sunday afternoon, and he was able to say the word “no.” But he has not yet regained function of the left side of his body, which is controlled by his damaged right-side brain.
Trooper Smith stays bedside at the hospital holding Christian’s hand, Frye said.
For Frye, it’s a hard image to reconcile with the spunky kid he got to know at trooper Christmas parties and other community events.
“Christian is a funny little dude. He’s a spunky little kid,” he said. “This is heartbreaking for all of us.”
Infectiously Positive Trooper
Trooper Smith is a familiar face in Goshen County. He’s a regular volunteer at public events and a standout brand ambassador for troopers at large, Frye told the Cowboy State Daily.
“People recognize him and they’re saying, ‘Hey, this is the guy from Shop with a Cop and the car show.’ They know him from all the public safety events he’s done,” Frye said. “He's got an infectious good attitude, just truly positive. This is the worst situation for the nicest person you might ever hope to meet.”
Troopers’ Nightmare
Wyoming Highway Patrol Association President Matt Arnell told Cowboy State Daily that Trooper Smith’s situation is among the worst fears faced by all law enforcement agents.
Arnell has worked with Wyoming officers who’ve responded to fatal crash scenes and discovered their spouses were the ones who had died.
“I can tell you this is every trooper's nightmare, that they're going to show up to a crash with serious injuries and discover that it's their own family,” he said, adding that it's precisely this fear that drives first responders to do as much as they can for others.
“But when someone's family is involved, we do everything we can because the same thoughts go through our head: What if this was my family? Did I do all I could do to help them out? Especially when there's kids involved, I know troopers, and I would say all law enforcement, they're pretty much all in,” he said.
Moral Dilemmas
Instants like these may invite ethical challenges for law enforcement agents.
Officers responding to emergency situations involving loved ones could become clouded by personal bias and risk tossing protocol out the window, said Gillette resident and retired police officer Frank Groth.
“The chief concern I would see with something like this is safety. One of the first rules of emergency services is don't become a victim,” he said, giving the example of hasty extrication. “If someone wasn't prepared mentally for that kind of encounter, they might resort to extraordinary measures.
“As a responder, as a trooper, as a fire EMS, you have to stay within your training, to stay in your lane. We talk a lot about professional detachment. That becomes really hard when you start looking at family. They might resort to some extraordinary measures or get outside their expertise.”
Reflecting on his time in law enforcement and putting himself in the situation faced by Trooper Smith, Groth says he shudders to think how he might react.
“I think I’d feel very conflicted. Between what your training says you're supposed to do and what your heart tells you to do, professional detachment is really hard to maintain when you're looking at somebody who means everything to you,” he said.
In rural states like Wyoming, incidents like Trooper Smith’s may be more common.
“There’s an old adage from Texas: ‘One riot, one ranger,’” Groth said. “When you're working in a rural place there’s always the possibility that a trooper could wind up responding to a call and involving family. Maybe it's bound to happen eventually, and I don't know how you prepare yourself for that mentally.”
