Medal Recipient Search
Jennifer Martin, nominated by Willow Springs Fire Department
2025 Class
Awarded on: 09/15/2026
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On February 20, 2025, Jennifer Martin, a schoolteacher, was watching her son sledding in the family’s front yard when she observed a young neighbor walking on the iced-over pond across the street. The boy then disappeared through the ice. Martin had her son call 911 and ran to the edge of the pond. She then crawled across the ice to reach the child, who was struggling to stay above water. Martin mustered the strength to pull the boy out of the water, helped him crawl back to land and then walked him home. When the Willow Springs Fire Department and EMS arrived, they evaluated the boy for hypothermia, warmed him in an ambulance and monitored his condition. As the sole witness to the child’s plight, only Martin could play the role of hero. And that is precisely what she did: immediately summoning the courage to risk her own safety to rescue a child in a dire emergency.
Elizabeth Lord, nominated by Missouri Department of Transportation
2025 Class
Awarded on: 09/15/2026
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On May 21, 2025, a MoDOT team was replacing a storm-damaged light pole in Jackson, Mo. The new pole rotated as it was being erected and hit an electric wire, causing an explosion and sending electrical shocks to three MoDOT employees. MoDOT team members pulled the two most seriously injured to safety and used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames that had enveloped them. MoDOT’s Bryant Sheehy then began administering CPR to one of the team members. Elizabeth Lord, a certified nursing assistant, was driving her daughter to work when she witnessed the explosion. Understanding that CPR can be exhausting, Lord took over CPR from Sheehy. The victim coded twice, but Lord continued applying CPR and helped a police officer administer an AED shock. Jackson Fire Rescue arrived and Lord continued administering CPR as paramedics delivered a second AED shock. The victim’s heart began beating again. The two injured MoDOT team members were flown to an ICU burn unit in St. Louis and have recovered. Lord, who has stayed in touch with the MoDOT team members, acted selflessly, as a Good Samaritan – stopping when a stranger needed help and becoming a true lifesaver.
Terry Mefford and Kenton Parsons, nominated by Shelby County Sheriff’s Office
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
At about 8 a.m. on July 8, 2024, Terry Mefford observed an SUV driving east on U.S. Highway 36 at about 5 m.p.h. just east of Lentner. Mefford called Shelby County Sheriff Arron Fredrickson, who requested that he follow the vehicle. Mefford turned around, and observed the vehicle pull onto the shoulder and come to a stop beside a deep concrete drainage ditch, but the SUV was highly unstable and teetering on the sloped surface. Mefford and another motorist who had stopped, Kenton Parsons, exited their vehicles and grabbed hold of the vehicle, attempting to use their weight to counterbalance it so it didn’t fall into the ditch. They called to the driver, but she was unconscious. Despite their efforts, the vehicle overturned into the ditch, landing on its roof. Sheriff Fredrickson was now on scene and he and Parsons descended the steep embankment and found the driver’s head completely submerged in water. Mefford retrieved a crowbar, which the sheriff used to break out both passenger side windows. The sheriff and Parsons, working in water up to their knees, extricated the woman and Sheriff Fredrickson began CPR. The victim regained a pulse and began breathing again. She was transported to a hospital and made a full recovery. Mefford and Parsons’ selfless actions, without any concern for their own safety, were critical in saving the life of the 62-year-old driver, who made a full recovery. Mefford is a Shelby County commissioner.
Alan Crook and Luis Carlos Garza, nominated by Hazelwood Police Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On the evening of Sept. 28, 2024, as Hazelwood Police officers investigated an armed robbery that had just occurred, Officer Brandon Runyon located the suspect in the 7400 block of North Lindbergh Blvd. The suspect punched Runyon in the face and continued to attack the officer. The officer and suspect fell to the ground, where a backpack stolen by the suspect, opened. Cash and a handgun fell near the struggle. About 30 seconds into the struggle, motorists Alan Crook and Luis Garza recognized that Officer Runyon needed immediate assistance and stopped. Mr. Garza placed his body weight on the suspect’s legs. Mr. Crook drew his own pistol and pointed it at the attacker while the officer now struggled to handcuff the suspect. Additional Hazelwood Police officers soon arrived and were able to assist in handcuffing the suspect. With complete disregard for their own safety, Mr. Crook and Mr. Garza each made the decision to intervene in a highly dangerous situation and prevented Officer Runyon from further injury, or perhaps worse.
Tony Carey, nominated by Kansas City Police Department
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
At about 9:40 a.m. on October 16, 2024, Tony Carey was at work at 72nd Street and Troost Avenue when he heard a loud crash nearby. He went to the front of the business to investigate and found a two-vehicle crash scene and Kansas City Police Officer Jon Powell lying in the roadway near his police motorcycle. Mr. Carey checked on the officer’s condition and found him to be unconscious and critically injured. Mr. Carey was not familiar with police equipment but located the radio on the downed motorcycle and began pressing buttons, which eventually activated the emergency status of the radio. Mr. Carey then made contact with the injured civilian driver of the other vehicle and shut off her SUV. He then went back to Officer Powell and remained with him until first responders arrived. Mr. Carey’s activation of the emergency button of Officer Powell’s radio alerted dispatch that the officer was in trouble. The dispatcher sent units to the area Officer Powell had just cleared. Upon arrival, officers called for EMS and began life-saving efforts. The officer was transported to a hospital where his condition stabilized. He continues to recover from his injuries. Mr. Carey’s willingness to help and his immediate response quickly got critically important medical assistance to Officer Powell and played an important role in preserving Officer Powell’s life and aiding his recovery.
Sean MacDonald, nominated by Missouri Department of Conservation
2024 Class
Awarded on: 09/23/2025
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On the night of Nov. 4, 2024, heavy rainfall led to flooding and swift-water conditions on Supplemental Route N Highway in Wright County. A woman was trapped in her sedan about one mile west of Highway 95. Missouri Department of Conservation Corporal Justin Emery and Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Cole Chatman responded to a location about 500 yards downstream from the victim as the fast-moving floodwater rose and conditions worsened. Mountain Grove city employee Sean MacDonald was at the scene with a large, wheeled front-end loader. Despite the challenging conditions, Mr. MacDonald did not hesitate. He had the two officers, who were wearing life vests, climb into the loader’s bucket and then navigated the vehicle through the high swift water to the trapped teenage driver. Emery and Chatman attached a life vest to a rescue throw bag and tossed it to the victim. Once she was secured in the vest, operator MacDonald positioned the bucket alongside the flooded vehicle and slowly lowered the officers to the trapped teen. Emery and Chatman were then able to safely pull the victim from her car into the bucket. MacDonald then carefully maneuvered the loader back upstream to a waiting ambulance, where the victim received medical care. On a pitch-black night with floodwater swirling all around him, Sean MacDonald was willing to risk his own safety and calmly led a daring rescue of a trapped victim.
Destiny Brant, nominated by Matthews Volunteer Fire Department
2023 Class
Awarded on: 09/12/2024
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On the afternoon of Sunday, August 6, 2023, a vehicle with five people inside rolled over on rain-soaked Highway H, one-half mile west of Matthews. The overturned vehicle landed in a flooded ditch. Destiny Brant, who had just graduated from college a few weeks earlier, and her mother were driving to their home in Canalou when they spotted the overturned vehicle in the floodwater. Without regard for her own safety, Brant entered the ditch, swam through four-foot-deep water and pulled two children from the vehicle. Upon arrival, Matthews’ firefighters quickly went to work and extricated the three others still entrapped in the vehicle. All five victims recovered from minor injuries. Brant, who had just left Sunday church services, courageously acted as a true Good Samaritan.
Louis Miklovic, nominated by Missouri State Park Rangers
2023 Class
Awarded on: 09/12/2024
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On September 1, 2023, tragedy struck during an annual family camping trip to Washington State Park, on the border of Washington and Jefferson counties. Joshua Miklovic and his two sons had hiked into Big Foot Cave. As they exited the cave, six-year-old Peter lost his footing and was teetering off the edge of the bluff. Joshua attempted to pull Peter back, but father and son fell 80 feet off the bluff and then tumbled down another 100 feet of steep, rocky terrain. Eleven-year-old Louis immediately sprinted to the trail head parking lot, found a park ranger, and the urgent need for help. He then led State Park Ranger Jacob Jenkins to a location where they could observe his father and brother. While Ranger Jenkins called for additional assistance, Louis used his cellphone to explain what had occurred to other family members. While Peter was alert with no major injuries, his father had suffered a broken back, severe head laceration and a concussion. First responders created a rope system and rappelled to the victims. The only way to evacuate Joshua, who was in critical condition, was to lower him down the bluff to the Big River and then use a small boat to transport him to a park beach and then fly him by helicopter to a hospital. Peter had a minor head laceration that required nine staples. Joshua required multiple surgeries and 150 stitches to close a nine-inch head laceration and continues to recover. Despite the trauma of witnessing his father and brother fall from the bluff, Louis immediately went for help, provided complete and accurate information to rangers, remained calm throughout the ordeal, and continued to share helpful information with first responders.
Joshua Dunn, nominated by Missouri State Park Rangers
2023 Class
Awarded on: 09/12/2024
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On September 2, 2023, a visitor to Montauk State Park accidently cut himself in his upper leg with a filet knife, causing a deep laceration that resulted in a life-threatening loss of blood. A bystander, Joshua Dunn, sprang to action and quickly fashioned a makeshift tourniquet, which, when applied with sterile gauze, stopped the bleeding. Mr. Dunn tended to the victim until EMS arrived and took over. A helicopter evacuated the victim to a medical facility. Because of the severity of the wound and the loss of blood, Mr. Dunn’s care along with assistance from a State Park Ranger and the Montauk Fire Department likely saved the victim’s life.
Kevin Jeffries and Justin Parrack, nominated by Missouri State Highway Patrol
2022 Class
Awarded on: 09/28/2023
Public Safety Civilian Partnership Award
On July 5, 2022, Troop D troopers were dispatched to Missouri 13 in Greene County, where a vehicle was northbound in the southbound lanes. Upon investigation, troopers learned that a motorist driving an SUV had suffered a cardiac emergency and was unresponsive as his vehicle traveled north. The SUV traveled into the median and continued northbound. Two motorists who had been driving north separately – Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Parrack – parked their vehicles on the shoulder and ran to intercept the uncontrolled SUV. Jeffries and Parrack ran beside the vehicle in the median and attempted to awaken the occupant, who was slumped over the console toward the passenger seat. They then tried to enter the vehicle from the passenger side but the door was locked. They moved back to the driver side of the vehicle and resumed their efforts to awaken the driver. The vehicle had now shifted from the median to traveling northbound in the southbound passing lane of the four-lane highway. Oncoming traffic had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. Jeffries and Parrack were finally able to enter the SUV, steer it back into the median and stop the vehicle. Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Parrack now saw the driver was not breathing and was in cardiac arrest. They pulled him from the vehicle and began administering CPR. They continued until Ebenezer Fire Protection District personnel arrived. The victim, Richard Mogan of Eldorado Springs, had been driving home from a round of cancer radiation treatment in Springfield. He was subsequently treated by EMS personnel and transported to Mercy Hospital – Springfield, where he was treated and recovered. The Highway Patrol reunited him with Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Parrack at Troop D headquarters in December. Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Parrack acted bravely and without concern for their own safety. Their actions likely prevented a collision and saved Mr. Mogan’s life.