MOORHEAD — The Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Clay County Commission recognized Travis Owens and his son Hunter with Distinguished Service Awards Tuesday, Nov. 7, for risking their lives to save a sugarbeet truck driver.
On Oct. 8, Jase Kelly had just finished a long shift driving a sugarbeet truck and coming down County Road 11 south of Sabin. He fell asleep, went into the ditch and his semi crashed into a tree, erupting in flames.
Travis and his 19-year-old son Hunter were headed to their deer stands to get ready for the upcoming hunting opener when they witnessed the whole thing.
“I saw the truck hit the tree and instantly in flames,” Hunter said. “I was dialing 911 before he had the truck in park,” Hunter Owens said.
The two men not only called 911 right away, they ran to the flaming semi.
“Time for me kind of stood still at that point,” Travis said.
Kelly was still inside.
“I could see him moving around in there and I’m screaming at him, ‘You got to get out of the truck,’ and as I got to the truck, now there’s diesel spraying, and I’m looking and he’s trying to come out the window frontways and there’s a tree wedged at an angle,” Travis said. “Basically at that point the flames are coming and I was just trying to rip him out of there as best I could.”
On Tuesday at the Clay County Courthouse, Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting awarded the father and son with citations and awards for their life-saving actions.
“Travis and Hunter Owens’ actions during the crash contributed to what I consider nothing short of a miracle after witnessing the damage sustained to the semi-truck and speaking with witnesses,” Empting said.
As for the Owens, they said adrenaline kicked in that Sunday morning, and they knew they just had to do what needed to be done.
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