Policeman's "guardian angel" recognized

A Dexter teenager was honored Monday night as the recipient of the first ever Chief's Award from the Dexter Police Department for her actions in coming to the aid of a severely injured police officer following an altercation on Sept. 12, 2011.

Tasha Rodgers, 18, was standing on the parking lot on the west side of the local McDonald's restaurant that Monday evening. The area is a common meeting ground for local teens. Rodgers and her friends were gathered when a vehicle pulled up and a physical altercation quickly ensued between a father and son from Dexter. When the fight escalated, someone called the police.

Patrolman Kevin Moore had come on duty that night just 30 minutes before the call came in.

"I was dispatched to a fight in progress," Moore remembers, "and when I arrived on the scene, there was a pretty good size crowd gathered."

When Moore attempted to break up the fight between Terry Mace and his two sons, Aaron and Austin Mace, he was reportedly shoved by the senior Mace. Moore's response, when Terry Mace began the physical altercation with him, was to use his taser gun. When the taser was utilized to subdue the father, Austin Mace reportedly charged the officer from behind with closed fists and landed a blow to Moore's left cheek, sending the policeman crashing to the ground.

Moore doesn't remember the knockout punch. He was unconscious when he hit the pavement with full impact on the right side of his face.

"I never saw it coming," he says. "I knew something had happened. I had a ringing in my ears, but I didn't know at that moment it was from being hit."

In the seconds that followed, Lt. Larry Patterson also arrived on the scene. Highway patrolmen, as well, rushed to the bloody scene when the call went out that an officer was down. The crowd that had been on hand quickly dispersed, but Tasha Rodgers remained on the scene.

After just a few seconds on the ground, Moore struggled to stand, but was unsteady and fell backward. It was Rodgers who broke his fall, with Moore coming to rest partially in her lap. There was massive bleeding from an open wound above his right eye.

With no emergency training, Rodgers went into the role of caregiver until an ambulance arrived. She applied pressure to Moore's head wound, and as importantly began asking him pertinent questions to keep him alert until emergency responders could reach him.

"I remember her asking me my badge number," Moore says. "And I was able to tell her it was 923."

Rodgers would say the following day that it never occurred to her to leave him.

"He needed someone to stay with him," she said. "I just kept asking him questions to keep him talking."

Moore doesn't recall much more of those moments as Rodgers kept him talking and alert.

"I just remember that I was so tired. I just wanted to go to sleep," he says. "I don't remember trying to get up and falling back. I was told that later."

When the ambulance arrived, Moore was rushed to Missouri Southern Healthcare where he was stabilized before being airlifted to St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis with a depressed skull fracture. He also had numerous facial lacerations.

Once Rodgers saw the officer safely placed into the ambulance, she left the scene. In the rush of events, no one had asked her name. It was only the following day when her stepfather, Kevin Barks, phoned The Daily Statesman inquiring about Moore's condition because his daughter was concerned, that anyone learned who the young girl was who had played such a vital role in Moore's care.

Police Chief Sammy Stone, who made the presentation at Monday night's meeting of the Board of Aldermen, knew immediately following the altercation on Sept. 12 that the department wanted to officially thank Rodgers for her "stepping to the plate" on Sept. 12.

"We need more young people with the kind of courage this young lady exhibited," he said in the days that followed. Plans were set into motion, but Stone wanted to wait until Moore was back on the job full-time. He first returned to the department in early October, but was restricted to light duty. A month later, he was released back to patrolman status on the road. Although he knew of Rodgers' good deed, until last night he'd never met the teenager with the compassion to remain by his side during what he describes as one of the worst moments in his 15-year career in law enforcement.

"Words just cannot express to this young lady how grateful I am for her actions. When others left the scene and didn't want to get involved, she never hesitated to step in and come to my aid. She kept my mind occupied with questions and dialogue that she knew would keep me awake when I could easily have lapsed back into a coma, and she kept pressure on the wound that kept me from losing any more blood. How do you repay someone for that kind of response?"

Police Chief Sammy Stone made the presentation to the Dexter High School senior during the regular monthly meeting of the Board of Aldermen. Commending Rodgers for her actions, Stone said, "There are so many times in this world when things go wrong, people will turn and walk away. But then you have those who say, 'I'm going to help,' and this young lady was one of those."

Authored by Lt. Patterson, the award honors Rodgers for willingly placing herself in a position to aid Moore and remaining on the scene until other emergency help could arrive.

"For her actions on that date," Stone read, "For her actions on that date, and with the gratitude of the Dexter Police Department, and the City of Dexter, we are honored to present her with this award."

Moore also expressed his thanks to a caring community during his recovery from surgery in St. Louis to repair the fracture he sustained during the Sept. 12 altercation.

"I can't thank this community enough for all of the calls of concern, the well wishes and most of all, the prayers," he said.

Terry and Austin Mace remain incarcerated in the Stoddard County Jail, awaiting a court date this week. Austin Mace is charged with the Class A felony of assault of a law enforcement officer. His father was charged with Class C felony of second degree assault of a law enforcement officer.