Two seniors from the Delaware Area Career Center were honored by the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office’s Wednesday morning for responding to three traffic crashes in the last couple of years.
Ryan Gross and Jacob Robinson, both DACC seniors enrolled in the law enforcement curriculum at the South Campus, were given a certificate Wednesday morning by county Prosecutor Carol O’Brien in front of a group of their classmates and peers Wednesday morning.
“We don’t often take the time to recognize the contributions from folks your age,” O’Brien told students at DACC. “You can’t be ‘Top Cops’ because you aren’t police officers yet, but I wanted to do something. We decided to present these certificates of recognition for the work that you’ve done in protecting the citizens of Delaware County.”
O’Brien said that over the last year the two students have stopped to help at three separate accidents on their way to school. O’Brien said the boys were traveling north on U.S. 23 on Oct. 20 when they saw traffic slow because of a just-occurred accident. Gross and Robinson immediately pulled off to the side of the road and had someone call 9-1-1. They made contact with both drivers, one of whom was suffering head pain while the other was bleeding from a head wound. Gross took off his uniform jacket and used it to apply pressure to the wound, while Robinson tended to the other person, keeping the victims stable until paramedics arrived minutes later.
O’Brien said the two also responded to two less serious accidents and helped keep the victims calm until help arrived.
“It would have been easy to just drive past,” O’Brien said, noting that it is impressive to see young men step forward so consistently.
Gross and Robinson were much more humble about the events.
“I’m honored to receive [this recognition], however three incidents are nothing compared to what law enforcement, troops and our nurses and doctors and firefighters do on a daily basis,” Gross said. “I’m honored but I think our law enforcement, firefighters and troops deserve the credit.”
“There were other people that helped us [at the scenes],” Robinson said. “I’m honored, but other people deserve recognition, too.”
Gross and Robinson’s instructor at DACC, Mark Warner, had nothing but praise for the pair.
“They bring professionalism and integrity to the program,” Warner said. Warner said it was great to see such a positive presence. “They are great guys and leaders in the classroom.”
