Rapid Response

Growing up in the wide open spaces of southern Utah gave Dennis Dalton a love of the outdoors and an appreciation for life.

As a boy, Dennis did not anticipate what his adventures would prepare him for later in life; however, years later, Dennis rescued an unconscious driver from a wrecked car, and his quick reaction may have saved her life.

“The woman’s car hit my van, swerved around me, jumped the curb, crashed into the side of a building,” Dennis recalls, “tipped at an angle and teetered on a low structure, the tires still spinning, the engine smoking and revving.”

His instinctive reaction was to stop his car and run to help. As he did, the first thing he noticed was that her car had sheared off a gas main that led into the building, and gas was rushing out.

“I thought it would blow us all to pieces,” he remembers. He turned the car’s ignition off and had to work to get the door open before he could get the unconscious driver out.

No explosion occurred, but the quick-acting courage that Dennis displayed earned for him his company’s service award and lots of local media attention.

To his wife, Barbara, and their three children, Dennis, a member of the Torrey Pines Ward, Las Vegas Nevada Redrock Stake, is a hero as he sets an example in everyday life.—Shan Clark, Kanab, Utah