Published: November 08, 2007 11:15 pm            

GPS helps authorities find injured hunter

An injured hunter was found by using the global positioning satellite information from his cell phone Thursday morning.

Shane D. Moncrief, 35, of Covington was in fair condition later Thursday in an Illinois hospital after falling from a hunting tree stand Wednesday night.

Moncrief called 911 from his cell phone around 11:59 p.m. after falling about 30 feet, according to a Parke County Sheriff’s Department news release.

He couldn’t move because of injuries to his lower body and told dispatchers he was unconscious for almost an hour after the fall, the news release stated.

Because of his remote location on County Road 325 near County Road 550 South, about six or seven miles south of Rockville, he couldn’t provide dispatchers with directions.

As sheriff’s deputies looked for Moncrief, dispatchers kept him on the cell-phone line and used the global positioning satellite information to find him, according to the news release.

Moncrief was conscious and alert when deputies found him. He was located about a quarter mile from the road adjacent to the woods south of County Road 325 West, the news release stated.

“Mr. Moncrief was very calm and collected given the circumstances and the serious nature of his injuries,” said Sgt. Justin Salisbury in the news release, who with Deputy Shay Vandivier found Moncrief.

He was taken to West Central Community Hospital in Clinton and later to Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill.

Parke County EMS, Rosedale and Mecca first responders, the Sheriff’s Department and Indiana Conservation Officer Dave Cruser responded to the scene.

Salisbury gave a lot of credit to dispatchers Jim Coniglio and Rob McMullen.

“Dispatchers are oftentimes overlooked for their efforts in saving lives,” Salisbury stated in the news release. “ … We would have never been able to locate the hunter so quickly without their efforts. The credit for a successful resolution to this situation should go to our dispatchers.”

        

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