6 St. Paul cops lift van off trapped woman

March 02--At the count of three, St. Paul police officers hoisted a 2-ton vehicle off a woman trapped underneath. Another officer pulled her to safety.

The 40-year-old woman who'd been injured in the weekend crash was taken to the hospital for treatment, and suffered no life-threatening injuries.

Medina Dube, of St. Paul, had been trying to get back into her van, which reportedly was rolling backward, when she slipped on ice and fell; her leg became pinned under the driver's-side front tire, police said.

Police officers responded and Jon Sherwood, a veteran officer, took command.

"He basically said, 'We're going to have to lift this van to get her out,' " Officer Tim Filiowich said Monday. The injured woman looked to be in pain, but was calm, he said.

Six officers lined up along the front of the van. Filiowich said Rob Buth, Don Chouinard, Clay Johnson, Robert Luna and Mikko Norman were hoisting the vehicle with him.

"When we lifted, it was so heavy, it didn't even feel like we were moving the van," Filiowich said. But to his surprise, they did.

Sherwood, meanwhile, held the woman's hand and rolled her out from under the van when they lifted it, Filiowich said.

Dube had been parking a Toyota Sienna on Supornick Lane, near Maryland Avenue and Hazelwood Street, shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday. Police believe she forgot to put the minivan into park, and it was rolling backward, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.

A 31-year-old woman across the street heard a loud noise and saw the van rolling backward.

She ran over and put the van in park, stopping it from crashing into a residence, Linders said. The van had struck an unoccupied parked vehicle, he said.

The incident might seem remarkable to the public, but officers routinely handle calls of this magnitude, said Filiowich, a St. Paul officer for nearly four years.

"That's the only thought process going through our head -- we know we need to get to the scene and do our job and solve the problem," he said.

Paramedics took Dube to Regions Hospital, where she was treated and released, according to the hospital.

"It could have been a lot worse," Linders said.

On Monday, Dube was in pain and recovering; her husband said she'd sustained no broken bones.

Dube's 6-year-old daughter had been in the van and was uninjured, Linders said.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

Copyright 2015 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.