SEANC District 2 member Richard Dean Griffin was honored this week in Raleigh with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Extra Mile Award for his quick actions helping to save the life of a local power company employee.

According to the NCDOT news release, Griffin, who is a Madison County Bridge Department employee, was plowing snow on Nov. 1 near Marshall when he was flagged down by an employee of the local power company.

Alerted to a second power company employee who was dangling from a nearby power pole and who had suffered electrical burns, Griffin was able to help contact emergency personnel and then help lower the injured man to the ground.

Griffin then stayed with the men until EMS personnel arrived. The injured man was taken to the burn center in Winston-Salem, treated and released.

In the NCDOT news release, NCDOT Division 13 engineer Jay Swain said he believes, “Dean’s swift action and safety knowledge are responsible for the positive outcome of this situation. He is a true example of what it means to go above and beyond the call of duty.”

Griffin was presented with the Extra Mile Award by NCDOT Sec. Tony Tata.

To read more about Griffin’s actions, click here.

Tata also presented the Extra Mile award this week to the members of a Davie County DOT road maintenance crew who averted a potential accident when a driver came the wrong way down a ramp onto I-40. Among the six-man crew were SEANC members Supervisor David Plagemann and Daniel Devoid. To read more about their story, click here.

If you know of a SEANC member who has gone above and beyond in his or her service to the state or the association, let us know. Contact Communications Specialist Matt Whittle or call 800-222-2758.