Atlas Twp. – Humble hero. It’s a title Deputy Dave McDonald has unsuccessfully tried to keep under his hat.
McDonald, of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Atlas Township precinct, was named Flint-Central Optimist Club’s 2004 Officer of the Year last month. This week, he was named a hero by the Hundred Club of Flint.
‘I’m greatly honored’and that’s perhaps an understatement’by this commendation,? said McDonald. ‘I’m so greatly humbled by all this, it’s an honor of epic proportions.?
McDonald, 40, was nominated for the honors by Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell for his rescue efforts when Hadley resident Elizabeth Adams? car overturned last January, trapping her in a Hadley Road pond.
‘I want to congratulate him,? said Adams. ‘He’s very deserving of it. I think he’s a very caring man from what I observed. He helped bring me in from the ice, and it had to be pretty bad because (the rescuers) kept going through (the ice).?
Days after the rescue, McDonald paid her a visit, bringing a photograph of the car to Adams, whose insurance claim was successfully resolved.
The dually-awarded officer takes police work to heart, says Detective Sgt. Joe Parks, McDonald’s commanding officer.
‘That’s why the community in Atlas loves him. Even the people he arrests like him.?
‘He’s a leader, loyal, faithful to this community, to this department. I think the world of him,? said Pickell. ‘I think he’s everything you’d want your son to be.?
‘It’s no different than what any other police officer would have done given the same situation,? says McDonald, insisting he’s privileged to work in a department of top-notch officers. McDonald credits motorists who stopped at the scene for Adams? safe return to shore.
The results could have been dire ‘if not for help of bystanders being there’most notably Mr. (Jerry) Scheddel,? McDonald said. ‘It was with everybody’s cooperative efforts that the situation had positive consequences.?
In honor of his heroic efforts, McDonald received a plaque and a watch inscribed ‘hero?.
‘He was so humble when he accepted the award, he thanked everybody else, you’d have thought he was the victim,? said Pickell.
Atlas Township residents may not have long to congratulate McDonald. He’s in line for a promotion to sergeant, Pickell said.