Vernon RCMP officer saves freezing man

by Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star posted Feb 3, 2014 at 11:00 AM
A Vernon man can thank a local RCMP officer for saving his life. On Friday, shortly before 11:30 p.m., a Vernon RCMP officer on foot patrol in Polson Park stumbled across a man frozen to the ground. “The man had inadequate winter clothing for the -16C temperature,” said Vernon RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk. “His hands were not gloved and he was sitting exposed in the snow.” According to police, the man was “barely conscious and highly intoxicated” when found by the officer, who had been investigating a call about an issue near the Polson Park fountain, at the corner of 32nd Street and Highway 6, when he wandered into the park and found the man. The 35-year-old resident with no fixed address was taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital and treated for hypothermia and frostbite. Molendyk said the man was in hospital for “a day or so,” and did not lose any digits from the frostbite. The man told the officer he estimated he had been in the park for “about six hours” before being found. “Medical staff told the officer had he not found the man, the man would have died by morning,” said Molendyk.