Sheriff’s sergeant rides out tornado in his vehicle
VILLISCA, Iowa (WOWT/Gray News) - A sergeant with an Iowa county sheriff’s office is fortunate to be unharmed after he was caught in a tornado while evacuating campers.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office shared video of Sgt. Todd Dollen riding out one of Tuesday’s tornadoes inside his patrol vehicle.
According to the sheriff’s office, Dollen was evacuating campers at the Hacklebarney Woods County Park at the time. Dollen said he had driven to the park’s campground to alert about a half-dozen campers that severe weather was approaching.
Dollen was able to get the people inside one of the campers to shelter, then tried getting himself to the equestrian side of the campground.
“Honestly, I was just trying to get to the park, make sure everybody was out and I was going to get the heck out of there, too. I just ran out of time,” he said.
He said he wanted to help them get to a brick shower house on the grounds to stay safe. However, a tree fell in front of his vehicle, preventing him from getting to the campers or to place to safely shelter himself.
“When the tree went down in front of me — it wasn’t a big tree, it was just the top of a tree that hit my vehicle. It was at that point I knew I wasn’t going to get out of my vehicle,” he said.
Dollen, who has been in law enforcement for 30 years, had no choice but to ride out the storm in his vehicle. But he said he wasn’t panicking.
“I put the vehicle in park, my foot on the brake, and grabbed the steering wheel. I kind of relate it to an amusement park ride where you are anticipating what’s going to happen,” he said.
In the video, debris is seen flying past the vehicle as the trees are shaken violently by the storm’s strong winds. All the while, Dollen does his best to keep calm inside.
Dollen said it happened very fast. He said he’s fortunate that he, along with the campers, escaped unharmed.
The sheriff’s office said the eastern part of the county sustained widespread damage due to the tornado.
No major injuries were reported.
Dollen said he also wanted all the volunteers and first responders in Villisca to know how grateful he is for the countless hours they have put in during this disaster.
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