Two troopers honored for saving man in sub-zero temperatures
Feb. 24—MANKATO — Two southern Minnesota State Patrol troopers were honored for saving a man they found unconscious in subzero temperatures in Mankato.
Kevin Wellens, of the Mankato patrol district, and Dahlton Bowe, of the Rochester district, were helping Mankato police search for people who fled the scene of a large fight shortly after midnight on Jan. 12 of last year.
The troopers found an unconscious, intoxicated man face down in the snow. The wind chill was 19 degrees below zero.
They carried the man about 50 yards through a wooded area to the ambulance. The man's core body temperature was dangerously low, and he most likely would not have survived if not for the troopers.
The two were awarded Life Saving Awards Wednesday during a virtual awards ceremony where troopers, citizens, medical services employees and civilian State Patrol workers were honored.
Mankato police were called to the scene of 20-30 people fighting in the street near Minnesota State University; the two troopers were looking for people who may have fled the scene when they came upon the man on a wooded trail near Val Imm Drive.
Blue Earth County Attorney Pat McDermott said he does not believe the man the troopers found was charged with any crime.
"If they wouldn't have come across him, he likely wouldn't have survived," McDermott said.
Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said during the ceremony that he was particularly proud of the patrol during a tumultuous year that featured the COVID pandemic and civil unrest, violence and looting in Minneapolis.
"Acting with excellence and acting with character is the hallmark of what leads to success," he said.
Harrington recounted an incident early in the pandemic when a trooper stopped a vehicle driven by a doctor headed to Duluth. The trooper gave her his protective mask because he knew they were in short supply.
And Harrington said troopers helped hold the line and stop more extensive damage and looting after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
"When many people were about to lose hope, there stood the Minnesota State Patrol ... lined up in a way that said, 'Not here, not now, not on our watch.'"
For the second consecutive year trooper Gustavo Culbeaux, of a Twin Cities patrol district, was honored for making the most DWI arrests.
Culbeaux arrested 181 impaired drivers in 2020.
The Trooper of the Year award went to Sgt. Bryan Bearce, of the Brainerd district. He is a 13-year veteran of the patrol and a decorated veteran of the Marine Corps.
In June, Bearce clocked a vehicle traveling 100 mph in a 65 mph zone. He determined that a female driver who wouldn't stop was likely in distress and noted children in the back of the vehicle. Bearce suspected the driver was suffering from a mental health crisis and decided to get in front of the vehicle and eventually got it to stop.
The woman tried fleeing on foot with the children, at one point walking toward the highway. Bearce safely secured the woman and the children until backup arrived. "Throughout the incident, Sgt. Bearce showed compassion, empathy and respect for the woman and her children," said Col. Matt Langer, chief of the State Patrol.
