CUMBERLAND, Md. — A Maryland State Police Aviation Command crew hoisted a mountain biker from a remote trail in Rocky Gap State Park after the biker suffered a seizure and fell Sunday, July 19, according to the agency and a local news report.
Watch the official Trooper 5 hoist rescue
Video source: Maryland State Police Aviation Command. Watch the official public Reel on Facebook if the embedded player does not load.
Remote location prompted aerial extraction
The Aviation Command said Allegany County personnel requested Trooper 5 shortly after 11 a.m. The patient was in terrain that responders could not reach by all-terrain vehicle, making a ground evacuation lengthy and difficult.
WBFF FOX45 reported July 20 that local emergency medical and rescue personnel treated the biker on the ground and helped prepare the patient for transport.
After the helicopter arrived over the wooded area, the crew lowered a trooper/flight paramedic into a clearing. The agency said the patient was secured in an Air Rescue Vest and hoisted into Trooper 5 with the flight paramedic.
Flight crew continued care to the hospital
The crew then treated and flew the patient to UPMC Western Maryland in Cumberland for further care, according to the Aviation Command. ThinBlueNews is not identifying the biker or adding a diagnosis, prognosis or other private medical detail beyond the public account.
The rescue depended on a coordinated chain: county responders reached and cared for the patient, the aviation crew placed a rescue technician at the remote site, and Trooper 5 provided the extraction and medical flight. It is a clear example of how police aviation can support local first responders when terrain makes a conventional evacuation impractical.
Readers can find more verified responder stories in ThinBlueNews’ police rescue news, police hero stories and first responder news coverage.
Sources and visual attribution
- Maryland State Police Aviation Command: “Trooper 5 Hoists Biker Out of Rocky Gap State Park”. The public post identifies Trooper 5, the request from Allegany County, the remote access problem, the Air Rescue Vest extraction and the medical flight to UPMC Western Maryland.
- WBFF FOX45: “Maryland State Police hoist-rescue mountain biker after seizure at Rocky Gap State Park,” published July 20, 2026. The local report provides the 11:09 a.m. dispatch time and describes the county responders’ ground-care and patient-packaging role.
Featured-image note: The image is a true frame from the official Maryland State Police Aviation Command Reel embedded above. It shows Trooper 5 and the wooded terrain, not the patient. ThinBlueNews cropped the frame to 1200 by 630 pixels and added a factual headline and visible source credit; no incident content was fabricated or replaced.
If an agency representative, responder or reader sees anything that should be corrected or updated, please contact ThinBlueNews through our corrections and editorial standards page.