New Carlisle Deputy Assists Elderly Woman After Getting Lost
New Carlisle deputy Mieko Lyons truly rose above her oath to protect and serve last week as she escorted an elderly Columbus woman to a hotel in Springfield after the woman became disoriented in New Carlisle. Lyons’ actions were supported by her fellow deputies as her reports went out over the radio, and soon, the woman was flanked by a team of deputies who made sure that she found her way to a safe place to spend the night.
Lyons was on patrol just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6 when she noticed a car driving very slowly on Main Street in New Carlisle. The car then pulled into Speedway and drove in a slow circle, as if the driver seemed to be lost. Deputy Lyons pulled in and approached the vehicle to find that the driver was an elderly woman with a small dog on her lap.
Lyons introduced herself and the woman, Cona Long, said she had been driving since 7 a.m. the previous day, as she had traveled to Missouri to pick up a car from her brother. The car she had retrieved was the one she was driving at the time, and Lyons advised her that the registration was expired, as Long was unaware.
The caring deputy then took it upon herself to ask Long what her plans for the night were, as she seemed to be slightly dazed but still cognizant and responsive. Long told Lyons that she really just wanted to find somewhere to sleep for the night, as she was on her way back to her home in Columbus. Lyons explained to her how to take State Route 235 to Interstate 70 and find a hotel off of South Limestone Street in Springfield, as it was on the way to Columbus.
Long told Lyons that she didn’t have much money and was unsure if she had enough gas to get there. She gave Lyons a ten-dollar bill which Lyons used to put fuel in Long’s gas tank. After fueling up the car, Lyons told Long that she would follow her to Interstate 70 but that she would have to navigate her own way to the hotel from there.
Lyons’ report notes that Long seemed “a little afraid that she would not be able to do that alone,” so Lyons called her Sergeant, who advised her to follow Long to Interstate 70 Eastbound and give her directions from there. Lyons then explained to Long what the plan was, and noted that Long seemed to understand everything.
Lyons reported that Long “made it fine through New Carlisle and Park Layne...going a little slow but doing okay,” but then she took Interstate 70 Westbound instead of Eastbound. Lyons then followed her onto the westbound highway and noted that Long seemed to realize she’d made a mistake because her driving “got to be very bad.”
She reported that Long was driving very slow on the highway and kept going off the side of the road with her turn signals on and changing lanes when it was not necessary. Due to her potential of causing an accident, Lyons attempted to get her to stop by activating her overhead lights, but Long did not respond. Lyons then maneuvered her cruiser in front of Long’s car and got her to stop by doing so. She then approached Long’s car and told her to get off on the next exit and turn herself around.
Lyons then followed Long to the next exit and back onto the highway in the right direction,
“Cona’s driving was still not good,” Lyons’ report states. “She continued to bounce around inside the lane that she was traveling in. Deputy Anderson, Sergeant Trimble and I followed Cona to her exit.”
Long took the correct exit but seemed unsure of where to proceed from there, so Deputy Anderson tried to get in front of her and get her to follow him but she did not understand what he was trying to do. Lyons said they eventually got Long to stop her vehicle, and they immediately called for a squad because she advised that she had diabetes and other medical issues.
Medics evaluated her and determined that she was fine except for being extremely fatigued and very cold. One of the medics drove Long in her car to the nearby Motel 6, where Lyons, Anderson, and Trimble followed to make sure she got to her room safely.
Trimble contacted Long’s son who lives in Dublin, and left a message for him about where his mother was staying for the night.
Sheriff Kelly said a man who witnessed the situation unfolding on Leffel Lane in Springfield stopped by his office Monday morning to commend his deputies for their compassion and professionalism.
John Rogers of Springfield said he was at the South Limestone McDonald’s location when he saw the commotion around the Motel 6. Because he knows the motel’s owner, Rogers decided to walk over and see what all the fuss was about.
“I was just overwhelmed and amazed at how professional they were,” Rogers said of the deputies’ response. “Every day, they’re out on the street, but they’re not out there 24 hours a day to pick up criminals--they’re there to help too,” he said.
“Everything they do isn’t bad,” Rogers said of the country’s law enforcement officers taking a beating in the media spotlight in recent years.
“They went out of their way to help that poor soul,” he said. “They were really, really kind to her, and it just really touched me.”
