ROCKPORT, Texas — An Aransas County sheriff’s deputy ran into a mass of attacking bees and pulled a woman to his patrol vehicle after she had been stung more than 300 times, according to a newly published report based on interviews with the deputy, the survivor and local firefighters.
Rachel Kelly-McKee was inside her rented storage unit near Rockport last week when a massive bee swarm forced her outside. She told the reporting outlet that she could not see through the insects and ran toward the road while trying to escape.
Deputy Davis runs toward the danger
Aransas County Deputy Kevin Davis was already responding when he saw Kelly-McKee emerge onto the roadway. Davis said he immediately ran to her, pulled her toward his patrol vehicle and used the car to get both of them away from the swarm.
“She was absolutely inundated from head to toe,” Davis said in the Aug. 27 report carried by WALB.
Kelly-McKee estimated that more than 300 bees stung her. Davis said bees also filled his patrol vehicle during the escape and that he was stung roughly 20 times. ThinBlueNews is attributing those counts to the people involved; they are not independent medical measurements.
Kelly-McKee was taken to a hospital. The report says doctors treated her for the stings and for a fractured spine suffered when she fell while fleeing the swarm. She later said she was thankful to be alive.
Firefighters clear a path for treatment
Lamar Volunteer Fire Department crews also responded. Fire Chief Mark Gutierrez said firefighters were able to spray foam on the swarm so emergency personnel could reach the area safely and begin treating Kelly-McKee.
The rescue was a coordinated civilian public-safety response: Davis reached Kelly-McKee in the swarm, used his patrol vehicle to move her away, and firefighters helped control the immediate threat so medical care could begin. Kelly-McKee publicly thanked everyone who helped her.
The published source does not identify the storage business, provide a precise medical prognosis or establish why the hive became aggressive. ThinBlueNews is withholding unsupported details and is not characterizing the bees beyond the source’s description.
Readers can find more verified acts of service in our police hero stories, police rescue news and positive police news sections.
Sources and visual disclosure
- WALB / Gray Media — Aug. 27 report with interviews of Rachel Kelly-McKee, Deputy Kevin Davis and Fire Chief Mark Gutierrez.
- Wikimedia Commons — Rockport context photograph by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0.
Visual note: the featured image is a licensed context photograph from Rockport. It is not the storage facility, the rescue scene, a photograph of Deputy Davis or a photograph of Kelly-McKee. No incident image is implied.
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