Michigan public safety professionals bring stranded family home

When people are in danger, we count on trained public service workers to answer the call. 

That is exactly what happened in Michigan after two women and a 9-year-old boy set out for a four-hour tubing trip on the Muskegon River and became stranded in remote woods for three days.  

After their tubes were damaged by log jams, the group was forced onto land and struggled to find a way out. They survived on river water and whatever they could find while search teams worked to locate them. 

Using their knowledge of the terrain, AFSCME members Cameron Wright and Anna Cullen, both conservation officers for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, followed fingerprints, bent grass, broken sticks and other signs through thick brush until they heard the missing tubers calling for help.

These members of the Michigan State Employees Association (MSEA) (AFSCME Local 5) recorded the rescue on their bodycams. 

“I will never forget that feeling when I knew we had found them and that they were going to be OK and I know every officer involved feels the same,” said Wright. “We were able to see where they entered the woods and requested assistance once we located footprints in the mud. We followed the track, looking for areas where ferns were tipped over, grass was bent, sticks were snapped — all in a certain direction.” 

The two women were unable to walk and had to be carried out. Wright carried the young boy to safety on his back. 

This is the type of work AFSCME public safety officers do every day across the country. When families need help, there is no substitute for experienced workers who know the communities they serve and have the resources to do their jobs.  

“Michigan’s conservation officers show us what public service is all about. When people were lost, exhausted and in danger, these officers used their training, experience and knowledge of the land to bring them home safely,” said Erik Bailey, executive director of MSEA. “That is why we have to invest in the public safety professionals who answer the call every day. When we stand together to make sure these workers have fair pay, strong staffing and the resources they need, we make every Michigan community safer.” 

“You train for situations like these, but you never want to actually have to put them to use,” said Wright. 

AFSCME Public Safety unites Conservation Officers Wright and Cullen with their co-workers to advocate for the funding and policies necessary to serve their communities and safely return to their families at the end of every shift. When public safety workers have a voice on the job, fair pay, strong staffing and the tools they need, they can continue doing what they do every day: showing up for our neighbors when it matters most. 

Click here to see the bodycam footage.