Two Cape officers tell of their heroic day

Two Cape Girardeau police officers had a 10- to 15-minute period where they had to give pregnant Sarah Iler and her baby CPR before the ambulance arrived.

Cape Girardeau police Lt. Brad Smith and Cpl. Cary Dunavan happened to be near the right place at the right time about 8 a.m. May 11 on Interstate 55. They were in uniform but in an unmarked, personal pickup truck, taking supplies to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport for the air show the next day.

They were headed south when they saw an overturned SUV on the northbound shoulder.

They had arrived right after the crash occurred, and they were close enough to rush out of their vehicle.

Dunavan said there were other people running toward the crash; Smith said at least two other people, but it was hard to tell because of the frantic nature of the situation. Dunavan immediately went to Sarah Iler, 26, who was lying face-down in the median.

Lt. Brad Smith

Smith went to Matt Rider, Iler’s husband, who was lying in the highway crossover area.

“We had to assess the damage to each victim,” Smith said.

Iler and Rider were on the way to a hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where Iler is from, because she was dilated. According to her sister, Kasandra Iler, Sarah Iler already was past her due date.

Dunavan got to Iler first and immediately checked for signs of life and saw, to the best of his knowledge, she was not breathing.

He immediately began performing CPR as he was trained to do as a Cape Girardeau officer.

Sarah Iler

When Smith got to Rider, he saw Rider was conscious and alert.

Rider told him Iler was eight months pregnant.

Smith went to Iler, and he and Dunavan took turns giving CPR until emergency services arrived from Scott City and Cape Girardeau.

At this point, they still were trying to save Iler’s life, but they knew they were helping the baby.

Traffic already was backed up significantly on northbound and southbound I-55, however.

Even with sirens blaring and lights flashing, Dunavan estimated it took ambulances 10 to 15 minutes to reach the scene.

Once ambulances arrived, Smith and Dunavan helped EMTs provide first aid.

Once Iler and Rider were ready to be taken to a hospital, they began helping fellow officers with traffic concerns around the collision, which involved a second SUV and a tanker truck.

“We feel like we did our duty,” Dunavan said. “We feel we did what we were trained to do.”

Lisa Mileur, American Heart Association program coordinator for Saint Francis Medical Center, speaking in general terms and not specifically about the incident, said providing CPR as soon as possible is crucial for a baby when a pregnant mother is not breathing.

“If the heart stops, there’s no blood going anywhere in the body,” Mileur said. “By doing CPR, you’re continuing circulation to the baby and giving breaths to the baby. When you’re pressing down on the low end of the breastbone, what you’re doing is squeezing all the blood in the heart out, and it knows where it can go because it can only go in one direction. ... With compressions and ventilation, you’re putting fresh oxygen into the mother’s blood supply, and that makes sure the baby gets fresh oxygen.”

Maddyson Iler was born via emergency cesarean section after Sarah Iler was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center. Sarah Iler later was pronounced dead.

Maddyson initially was placed on a ventilator.

She since has been taken off the ventilator and is eating and digesting food, according to an update on a family gofundme.com page that is collecting donations.

“The baby is doing better,” said Iler family attorney Alan Mandel, who is handling media requests. “We’re cautiously optimistic.”

Smith and Dunavan said they have kept up with how Maddyson is doing, and they are happy she is improving.

“This is what police do,” Smith said. “Any policeman in this county, they’d do the same thing. We’re thankful for all the praise. ... We feel great that it helped.”

The gofundme.com page has received $10,000 in donations.

The story of Maddyson’s emergency birth and Sarah Iler’s death was picked up by The Associated Press and published or broadcast across the country and internationally.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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