AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety recognized troopers, aircrews, a partner-agency officer and DPS personnel for acts of service and bravery during its June Public Safety Commission meeting, including seven Lifesaving Awards, one Director’s Citation and one Director’s Award, according to a DPS news release.

DPS said Public Safety Commission members and DPS Colonel Freeman F. Martin presented the recognitions at DPS Headquarters in Austin. Martin said each award told “a story of dedication, sacrifice and service to others,” according to the release.

Canyon rescue, crash bleeding and a range emergency

The department said Trooper Melissa Flanigan of Tahoka received a Director’s Citation after responding Nov. 5, 2025, to a critically injured person who had fallen about 75 feet into a canyon along the Caprock Escarpment. DPS said Flanigan descended into hazardous terrain, sustained injury herself, provided lifesaving medical care and helped coordinate the prolonged rescue until the victim could be flown to safety.

Trooper Robert Johnson of Orange received a Lifesaving Award for his response to a Feb. 26 motorcycle crash. DPS said Johnson found the rider with traumatic, life-threatening bleeding, applied two tourniquets, used gauze to control additional blood loss and kept the rider alert while coordinating the scene until other responders arrived.

DPS also recognized Trooper Clint Sharp of Athens and Palestine Police Department Corporal Andrew Link after Trooper Isiah Pettigrew was severely injured during a Dec. 15, 2025, live-fire exercise at the Palestine Firearms Range. DPS said Sharp and Link followed their training, kept Pettigrew calm, assessed his injury and transported him to medical care while monitoring his condition. Pettigrew survived and made a full recovery, according to the department.

Toxic gas exposure, fiery crash and severe leg injury

DPS said Trooper Christian Fernandez of Odessa received a Lifesaving Award after stopping Dec. 5, 2025, on Interstate 20 for a driver in severe medical distress. The release said Fernandez learned the driver had been exposed to hydrogen sulfide, called EMS and then transported the driver to a hospital himself while aware of the contamination risk.

Trooper Justin Basso of Gainesville was honored for pulling a trapped driver through a window after a high-speed BMW crashed into metal rebar in an active construction lane, rolled and caught fire on Nov. 21, 2025, according to DPS. The department said the vehicle later became fully engulfed and exploded, while the driver survived with minor injuries to his foot and arms.

DPS said Corporal Thomas Flores of Odessa was honored for a Sept. 7, 2025, response in Ector County after a fleeing motorcycle rider crashed into a pickup truck. Flores found the rider critically injured with a traumatic amputation of the right leg and severe damage to the left leg, then applied a tourniquet and helped stabilize the rider until EMS arrived, according to the release.

Flood hoist rescues from Kerr County and the Rio Grande Valley

DPS also recognized Aircraft Operations Division personnel for flood rescues. During July 4, 2025, catastrophic flooding in Kerr County, DPS said aircrews launched despite severe weather and poor visibility, conducted hoist operations, rescued a family trapped inside a river bend and rescued several people stranded in treetops for more than five hours.

The Kerr County Lifesaving Awards went to Lieutenant Pilots Robert Dorman, Frank Gunnels and Blake Mican, and Tactical Flight Officer Nicholas Duhon, according to DPS. The release said Duhon secured a female victim after both fell from a tree during one rescue, preventing her from being swept into floodwaters until both were hoisted out.

DPS said Lieutenant Pilots Dustin Ponce and Brandon Palmer, along with Lieutenant Eric Herrera, were honored for a March 27, 2025, Rio Grande Valley flood rescue after aircrews heard radio traffic about two people clinging to vegetation in a flooded canal. The department said the crew executed a high-risk hoist rescue under hazardous conditions and extracted one of the stranded people.

ThinBlueNews is limiting this article to the recognitions and public-safety facts described by DPS. The department’s release did not identify private victims by name, and this article does not add independent medical, crash-cause or investigation claims.

Sources reviewed

Editorial note: ThinBlueNews used an official Texas DPS meeting photo as the featured image. No AI-generated officers, rescue scene or unrelated staged imagery was used.