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GPD Capt. Inman saluted with city’s Life Saver Award
Backed by fellow police officers and applauded by a standing-room-only audience at Greencastle’s City Hall, veteran Greencastle Police Department Capt. Charles Inman was presented the Life Saving Award Wednesday for his actions at the scene of a fiery fatal accident May 13 along State Road 75 in Hendricks County.
Although details of the accident have been shared in the Banner Graphic previously, it is worth repeating that an off-duty Capt. Inman was heading to an appointment in Danville when he came across the aftermath of a serious accident that had obviously occurred only moments earlier. The collision involved a dump truck and a Toyota Corolla, which had sustained severe front-end damage and had burst into flames.
Inman stopped, grabbed a fire extinguisher from his Greencastle patrol car, and ran to the wrecked vehicle along with another scrubs-wearing motorist believed to be a nurse. Others from nearby Commercial Star Lawn Mowers ran to the scene with additional fire extinguishers to help.
“Without thinking twice, Capt. Inman quickly sprang into action to help save the people trapped in the burning car,” Greencastle Assistant Chief Brian Hopkins said in nominating the 21-year police veteran Inman for the city’s Life Saving Award.
While the driver of the car, Alyssa Couch, 27, Coatesville, succumbed to her injuries, Capt. Inman and the female good Samaritan were able to contain the fire and extricate seven-month-old Lukas Couch-Henderson from his car seat in the rear passenger compartment.
“When I heard that Capt. Inman had stopped at the horrendous accident and started assisting without hesitation, I was not shocked by any means,” Chief Tom Sutherlin said before he presented Inman the Life Saving Award at the outset of a Greencastle Board of Public Works and Safety meeting at City Hall.
“Capt. Inman continues to lead by example as a leader, mentor, coach and a law enforcement officer here in our community,” Sutherlin added.
Although Lukas, now a year old, suffered two broken legs, a skull fracture, a broken wrist and brain bleeding, he is expected to make a full recovery and was in the audience bouncing on the laps of family members Wednesday afternoon.
Her voice choked with emotion, Lukas’ grandmother, Tammy Stanley, told Capt. Inman that “without you that day, we wouldn’t have either one of them (Alyssa or Lukas).”
Inman spoke briefly, deflecting any personal pats on the back to stress that the city has long supported the Police Department with training and equipment, and the use of GPD patrol cars while off-duty is another example. He went on to focus on Lukas, adding that “somewhere, some higher power has a purpose for that little boy.”
In researching the accident, Greencastle officials quoted a Hendricks County Deputy, Jordan LaForet, who reportedly told a superior office that Inman and the driver of the truck, Charles Price, “deserved a medal or something” as running toward a vehicle on fire is not a “natural thing” to do.
After city officials and others applauded Capt. Inman’s efforts, Mayor Bill Dory noted that the officer’s actions “reflect well on what we try to do” and are “reflective of all the great things our Police Department does on a regular basis.”