C.O.P.S. Ministry

Angel of Life

It was February 17, 1997. My 31 st birthday and I was on duty for the Anderson County Sheriff's Office. At 1:26 am, I was patrolling the streets of Edgemoor Rd. and Clinton Hwy when Clinton City dispatched their fire department to a house fire. According to the call, there were still two people trapped inside. As Sgt. Moore (now Lieutenant) of Clinton Police Dept. dispatched the call, I heard a female screaming in the background. At this time I started toward Clinton . A short time after the original dispatch, I heard Sgt. Moore key his mic and again a female was screaming in the background. Sgt. Moore stated that there were two subjects still inside. I responded to the scene with hopes of being able to help.

After I arrived at the scene, I heard glass breaking as I exited my vehicle and started toward the house. The smoke from the fire had already covered the area. Upon approach of the house I began looking through the windows of the basement to see if I could see anyone. When I got behind one of the Clinton Police Officers, Glen Gilliam, he began to yell, “I've got a body, I've got a body!!!” I tried to look in, but I could not see anything because of the thick black smoke. About that time, Capt. Little from the Clinton Fire Department came over to assist. At first, he could not see anything, but Officer Gilliam and I continued to shine our flashlights into the room pointing toward the body. When Capt. Little noticed the body, he moved with vigor and quickly kicked out the window frame that was keeping us from reaching the child. Capt. Little jumped down into the basement. A puff of black smoke rolled out of the window, covered Officer Gilliam's face and choked him. Officer Gilliam had to leave the window, so I took his place. At that time, I saw the small foot of a child. Capt. Little picked up the child and tried to hand him to me, but he fell backward. Smoke rolled out of the window covering my face and glasses. I couldn't see through my glasses so I threw them to the side. Capt. Little got up with the child and lifted him up to me so he could be pulled out from the burning house. Officer Gilliam and I ran with the child away from the house and placed him on the ground. There was no pulse or heartbeat and the child was not breathing. As I looked at the child, his face was covered with black smoke - a tar looking substance was coming from the boy's nostrils. I couldn't help but think of my own 6yr. old son, Daniel, who is now 11.

Officer Gilliam began yelling, “God help me, Help me God!!” I didn't care who was around, I began to pray out loud as I was wiping the black smoke off of the child's face and tried to help Officer Gilliam clear the child's mouth of the black tar looking substance. Trying to move as careful, but as swiftly as possible, Officer Gilliam and I began CPR. With every breath given, you could hear a gurgling sound in the lungs. In between breaths and chest compressions, the child's mouth needed to be cleared. At one point, the boy's teeth clamped down on Officer Gilliam's fingers. Officer Gilliam had to use his free hand to pry the boy's mouth open to loose the hand that was bitten. Gilliam said, “Oh, don't bite me son,” and continued to work. It seemed as though the CPR was doing no good, but Sgt. Humphrey of Anderson County Sheriff's Office was by our side encouraging us to keep going. Finally, we got a heartbeat and the child gasped for air - two more breaths were given. Asst. Chief Lynn Murphy picked up the child, threw him over his shoulder and we began to run around to the back of the house where the ambulance was. As we ran, the pressure on the child's stomach from Murphy's shoulder caused more of the tar like substance to gush from the child's mouth down Murphy's back. Arriving around back and placing the child back on the ground, we wrapped him in blankets. I was handed an ambo bag, which I placed on the child's face and continued to breath for the child as the medics placed heart monitors and other items on him. Using my flashlight, paramedic Hugh Kring began to check the eyes of the child - the eyes responded. While we were still working on the child, my guardian angel pin fell off of my jacket collar and on to the boy's chest. I stopped squeezing the ambo bag to pick up my angel pin and put it in my jacket pocket. When I placed my hand back on the bag, I noticed the child's chest rise and fall by itself. It was if the angel had breathed new life into the boy. The boy was now breathing on his own! With joy I alerted Hugh to the fact. He was pleased, but he said to keep going so I did.

Officer Gilliam was rubbing the boys body to help keep him warm so he wouldn't go into shock. We both kept praying and talking to the child telling him to hang on and that he was doing really good. At one point, while rubbing his head, I leaned down to the boys ear and said, “ I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can... just trust Jesus , OK ?' Just trust Jesus!” Soon after that, we all picked the child up and placed him on the cot so we could get him to the helicopter that was on the way. Once on the ambulance, I put the oxygen mask on the boy and just kept talking to him. Still paramedics Hugh Kring and Donnie Bolt were working with him, doing whatever was needed and Officer Gilliam was also still assisting. I continued to talk to him and I looked into his eyes to see if they were still reacting to the lights. They were. I didn't notice at this time that the boy had eye contact with me. Hugh noticed the boy's eyes and said, “keep talking to him Randy, he's looking at you, he has eye contact with you.” I kept talking and rubbing the boy's head. Finally, the helicopter arrived. We rushed the boy from the ambulance to the “Life Star” helicopter. While running and pushing the cot to the helicopter, the child raised his arm and grabbed mine. This was the first real motion to show signs of life. As we walked back to the ambulance, Officer Gilliam looked at me and shook my hand and said, “God was with us!” I said, “Yes, God had mercy on us.” As we got into the back of the ambulance to return to the scene I began to cry only now realizing the reality of everything going on.

Arriving back at the scene of the fire, Sgt. Humphrey requested that I come to the jail. When I arrived I noticed that the Sheriff was there along with Capt. Avery Johnson and Sgt. Humphrey. I walked through the lobby door and Sgt. Humphrey shook my hand and said, “I want you to know, you did a good job out there.” Sheriff Manning then asked about the boy and I told him what I knew. He and Sgt. Humphrey were talking more and I asked, “What is going on?” The Sheriff looked at me and said, “Don't you know? That is one of our officer's house that is on fire. That is his wife and son that were in the house. You didn't know who that was?” I said, “No, I had no idea.” It was then that I learned the child's name. His name is Joseph McCulley and he's only nine years old. This information stunned me and shook me up even more. I had no clue the call I was on that the family belonged to one of our own co-workers.

The Sheriff asked me to share the news with Big John (Officer McCulley) about his son. Until this time he knew nothing except that his house was on fire. I went into the room and told Big John what I knew about his son. He hugged me and said, “Thanks for everything you've done.” He then left to go to the hospital to see his family. Later the phone rang, ... Big John's wife had died.

I went to the Clinton Police Department. The Clinton dispatcher told me that the “Life Star” helicopter medics had radioed back and said, “Tell the two police officers that they saved the boy's life.” What an awesome feeling! Jesus DID help us and He answered our prayers!

A debriefing was held that same night. Everyone involved in the rescue attempt was told to be there. It was at this debriefing that I learned that “seconds or minutes” after we pulled Joseph from the window, that twelve foot flames shot out of the same window where we were. According to Assistant Fire Chief Murphy, the flames went so high that it burned and melted the eves on the roof of the house. (The window was at ground level.) I also learned the story of one of the helicopter medics, Robert Byrd. Robert said that he wasn't supposed to work that night, but that he felt like God had wanted him to, so he did. While enroute to the hospital, he gave Joseph some medicine. He said he had only seconds to make a decision because he could not get the tube down Joseph's throat because it was so swollen. He had to make the decision whether or not to give him a tracheotomy to help him to breath. He said that something told him “…to try one more time…” to get the tube down the boy's throat. He said, “Folks you just don't do that, but I tried one more time and the tube went down so easy. Nothing blocked it.” You could tell Robert was amazed. Robert Byrd gave all of the credit to God.

Two weeks after the fire, Joseph McCulley walked out of the University of Tennessee Hospital on his own power. My wife and I had the privilege of being a witness of that. He is still alive and well today because of our God -- Jesus Christ!

Matthew 19:26 says, “…With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Praise The Lord!

This story is true and accurate and is also documented in “Angel’s On Earth Magazine” in the March-April 1998 issue page 32.