AFSCME member "a hero" in Lake County
Every day, AFSCME members go beyond the call of duty to serve their communities. And once in a while, circumstances inspire acts that are truly heroic. That’s what happened on the night of May 12 to Jason Patt, whose selflessness and bravery saved a family of five from drowning in their car.
Patt is a deputy coroner in Lake County, where he is not only a member of AFSCME Local 2452 but also a certified steward, a member of the union bargaining committee and a PEOPLE MVP.
On this particular evening in the suburbs north of Chicago, flash flooding had resulted from heavy thunderstorms that swept across the area. “A torrential downpour of rain had created a pool of water” underneath an overpass on Route 41 near Route 176, the Chicago Sun-Times reported:
Patt was driving northbound on Route 41 in a coroner’s truck. The rain was coming down heavily and there were two, three cars ahead of him, stopped in front of the overpass. The drivers apparently didn’t want to chance going through the water.
“I see a car in the southbound lanes that is halfway submerged,” Patt said. “I walked on the median about 50 yards or so, shined my [flashlight] and saw people in the car. I yelled at the family to get out.”
Trapped in the car with water at their chests and still rising were Danny Le, his wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and four-year-old son. The Sun-Times continues:
Le opened the door a little bit and said he wasn’t getting out, Patt said. So, Patt asked if there were any children in the car and Le said there was one child. The water was up to their chests. Patt went back to his truck and called dispatch for help.
Lake Bluff Police Officer Robert Brezinski responded. He too tried to urge the family to get out of the car, but they wouldn’t budge. So, he got to work directing traffic and keeping others from becoming trapped as well.
That’s when Patt knew he had no other choice but to get in the water and rescue the family. …
“I jumped into the water and assisted each of them out,” he said. “I opened the door, got the kid and one of the women out and took them to my truck. Then, I went back and got the other woman and then the next woman and then the man.”
The rescued family was deeply grateful to Patt, but like so many deeply committed men and women in the public service, he told the Sun-Times it was all in a day’s work:
“We had nowhere to go and my kid was cold and scared,” Le said. “I want to say thank you to Jason. He’s a hero.”
Patt disagreed.
“I was just doing my job as a public servant,” he said.
Jason Patt is also the AFSCME-endorsed candidate for Lake County sheriff.