 Hey, good morning. I'd like to welcome everybody here to a really special event today that I have the pleasure of moderating a meeting today. I have my friend with me, Sahana Sikhar, fellow employee and buddy who we just happened to have a chance meeting and that's why we're here today. And I'll tell you the story. First off, my name is Sheldon Fung, before I forget that. I'm an assistant chief here with Cal OES Law Branch. And we work together here on the SOC floor. Probably in the month of August where we kind of met and to tell this story. We're doing 80-hour weeks, 80-hour weeks, working long hours every single day. And so one of the things we get here at OES is we get fed our lunch in our dinner because we live here when you're working so many hours. So I was having my usual dinner out on the beautiful veranda, our little space out there, and I was just standing and eating my meal when this lovely lady came up to me and started talking and said, hey Sheldon, I I got in a really bad accident in January of 2019. January of 2019 and I said, oh really? Where? And she said the place and I said I live right there. And I said, I remember this accident because I heard it and I got on the police radio and checked and find out if there's anything I could do to help but there's nothing I could do. And then she told me a story of what happened. So with that, I'll let Sahana give her story. Yeah, I mean Sheldon's always there, so I came to bug him a little bit. You know, when does he not need bugging? But in terms of the accident itself, I personally don't remember a lot of it. I know that I was going to work at the ER at the time, 9 a.m. shift. It was raining a lot, raining cats and dogs. I was going and the last thing I remember is actually it's just the rain. That's all I remember. And then I woke up a couple of days later, didn't know what was happening. I thought I was in Hawaii, but then I opened my eyes and I wasn't in Hawaii. You know, different scene. I woke up and there was a nurse telling me, don't try to talk. And then I had no idea what was going on until they explained to me you were in an accident. And that's how it all started. That's how it all started. It all started. I think you told me a little bit more of what happened. I think you said, hey, I died. Oh, well, yes. Yeah, that's a little fact that she forgot to mention is that I died. And I said, I'm alive now. I mean, the fun facts, I guess, would be that they're not really sure how I was projected from the car. It's not that I was projected. I might have jumped. They're not 100% sure. But the officers did find me. And one officer was traveling near there with her daughters. And she had seen the car crash. And the other one that had pulled over at first was Deputy Seiko. And he was driving behind me. So he pulled over, was looking for me after the crash. And he couldn't find me. But when he did a couple of feet away, he said I didn't have a pulse. And now I'm learning all of this from police reports and from what I was told, you know, by my parents later on that this is what had happened because I don't remember any of it. But the two of them worked for five to six minutes. They did CPR to bring me back. And I guess I came back with a vengeance. Here I am. And here you are today. Yeah, it's a great story of, you know, when you told it to me of how I died and came back to life because these people basically saved my life. And without them, you wouldn't be here today, essentially. Right. And the story kind of came to be because, you know, we see a lot of things on the media and you and I kind of talked about how the media sensationalizes a lot of things. But I was saying, I think officers need to get a little more recognition. And this is my experience with officers. Yeah, I've personally never had a bad experience. Even when I've gotten traffic tickets all enough to them. She never got a ticket, mom. No. But I've never been treated poorly. And that's kind of where this conversation stemmed from. I was telling Sheldon that I only have good stories to tell. And the best one is I was saved by two of them. That's a great story. Because in law enforcement, I've been doing this for 25 years. We don't have enough positive reinforcement about the things we try to do, especially in today's world. And hearing your story made me, my eyes perspire a little bit. Perspire. So, you know, and it was a great story. And so what else did you want? Oh, to recognize that I had a lot of Bath and Body products in my car. But I really just wanted to say thank you to the two officers because not only did they save my life, they were both off duty. One was, I believe, enjoying family time with her daughters. And the other one, Deputy Jaseko, I'm not sure, but he was alone, but also off duty. And, you know, probably going to family events as well. It was a Sunday. So Sunday, 9am. But I just really wanted to say thank you. It took me some time to, you know, go through physical therapy and then emotionally connect with what had happened. And then also, my family was a really big part in this. With all their support, I was able to do all of the things I was told I might not be able to do anymore in terms of physical abilities. I'm a lot of metal at the moment. But, you know, with my family support and my community, too, I was able to, I guess, feel better. And then by the time I wanted to connect with these officers to say thank you, COVID had become a real thing in our community. So I couldn't reach out to them. And then that's where Sheldon comes into play. How long were you in the hospital? So for my memory recollection, I thought it was only a couple of weeks. But my family filled me in. It was almost a month and a half, almost two months. And I'll rephrase that question. How long did you think you were in Hawaii? Oh, wow. You know, that is a really weird recollection that I have, because I don't know how I ended up in Hawaii, because that's just where I happened to be. And I just remember it was warm. It was really bright. And some, yeah, it was really nice. And someone had asked me, do you want to keep napping? Or do you want to take a walk? And that's when I had woken up, is because I decided I'm done napping. That's the story. And my dad was there to witness that, me waking up to that. That's amazing. That's amazing. Okay. So then you asked me to do something for you? Yeah, I asked you to look into it. And I was like, Sheldon, you're the big police chief guy. Would you mind finding these officers for me? Because I would love to say thank you in any form or way. And then Sheldon had the idea that we could, you know, get PIO involved and say thank you to them. Because how often do we say thank you to police officers? I feel like it should be way more often. By the way, it wasn't my idea. It was hers, not mine. So I just said, if we want low key, we can low key this. So that's okay. It's all about what's in the heart, right? And how you wanted to do it. And I consulted my family too to see if they were okay within how they felt about it. My parents are part of an Indian organization called Onkur. And they also wanted to be involved. So we'll be giving them a little thank you from our community as well. That's fantastic. Yeah. Because they help our community. Law enforcement is always present helping us with all of our events. Okay, great. Just a big thank you, specifically to my two angels. But you know, okay, yeah. Well, are you ready to meet your friends? Yes. And future best friends? Yes. Family, mom, dad, you ready? Yeah. Okay. All right. I think it's time to bring in our friends. Hello. Wow. Hi. This is Jay. Saiko, Saiko, sorry. This is Jennifer McHugh. Good to meet you. Oh, my gosh. It's so good to meet you. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Yeah. You're so happy you're okay. Thank you. You're amazing. If you guys want to have a seat, I'll make sure my eyes don't perspire. But thanks. Thanks for coming. We just told the story of what happened to a point in time when she got an accident and what happened to the aftermath. And we don't know what happened right prior to the accident and then after. So would you mind filling in the story of the rest of how this happened? Yeah. It's really, it's really cool to kind of see from your perspective to what was going on. Definitely, Jennifer and I saw a lot of things that day and it was pretty traumatic for sure. So just to kind of walk through what I was doing, I was actually coming from church that morning and I was going on my way home and it was raining a lot. Like you said, it was very rainy. And I remember you, your car driving in front of me and I was probably like a car or so a link behind you and that stretch of road is kind of dicey because it kind of turns all which direction and the road was slick and I remember seeing your car and I remember it had lost traction and kind of fishtailed and you know, at that point there's nothing you can really do about it but just hold on and I saw your car go into the opposing lane and I saw an SUV that was right in front of you and pretty much just instant collision and it was a big collision. I mean the force involved in that. I mean it was like a family size SUV and immediately I just remember thinking like, oh no, like this is bad. I just remember just the violence of it and I pulled over and kind of, it's interesting because you're kind of in citizen mode. You know, I'm just driving along and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, get in cop mode and assess and see who needs help, what's going on and so I immediately pulled over. I bolt out of my car and I run to the scene that this point, no one's out there. It's just your car and my first inclination was that you were inside your car so I went over to the driver's side door, the windows were shattered, the car was like mangled and it was really difficult to see inside the car and I remember the door, grabbing the door handle and yanking on it to try to get it open to see who was inside and I was able to kind of pry the door open and I look in there and there's no one in there and I was like just confused for a second. I was like where is it, who's in here and the car was kind of obstructing my vision on the other side so I ran around the other side and I mean to this day I just remember seeing you and I just how alone you were and that I wanted to be with you. You looked very helpless and it was raining and I remember the smells of the radiator fluid and the engine fluid everywhere and just glass and just destruction and I remember getting to you and I didn't think you were alive. I mean I didn't and but I know with my training you know you don't give up until you know until it's over and you know it was it had just happened and if there was a chance there was a chance and so I remember immediately I just started CPR you know and my thought was I'm going to keep her heart pumping whatever happened to her I'm just going to keep her heart pumping I'm going to keep blood going through her body until the fire department get there and they take over and then my friend Jennifer comes sliding in like a hero literally slid in there and I think I don't know if we just recognized it immediately but I'm off duty yeah I'm off duty too we're both law enforcement okay let's do this we just got to work yeah yeah and she was very nurturing you know just I remember her talking with you it's going to be okay you're going to make it and as we're working on you I remember her saying I think I hear breathing I or she's moving or there's like life came to you all of a sudden and and she was like okay let's pause for a second let's turn her to her side because I think you were struggling trying to get Aaron and and we turned you over to your side and it didn't seem like it was that long after until the fire department got there and I remember you were making some noises like you were like fighting for life and and you know it's just that it's like on with your day kind of thing you know like you went I didn't know who you were I didn't know what happened with you you know I remember going home and I had you know I had an engine fluid on my shoes I think there was a little blood on my pants and you know just was like in silence for a while just thinking about what had just happened and just praying for you and wondering you know how you were doing and it was really cool to be able to meet you and see you and the beautiful human being that you are. Thank you. And Jay is from, I was working for the Sacramento Sheriff's Department at the time he is now with the City of Rancho Cordova Police Department. City of Rancho Cordova Police Department sorry microphones. All right Jennifer you might have a story too right and you're from Elk Grove Police Department. Yes I remember that day very clearly too it's still every time I drive through that intersection I remember everything. I remember that day yes it was raining pouring and my daughters talked me into going to Dutch Bros that morning so we were on our way back and the accident had just happened and I just saw you laying there in the street all by yourself and then I saw Jay running over and I told my girls I said I need to stop and help. There wasn't even a question in my mind I just pulled over and I ran and I did slip and make a very nice graceful you know entrance and we just got to work and it was very scary I mean I've been in law enforcement over 20 years and that was probably one of the hardest things I've seen and you looked like you were in very bad shape so we just did everything we could just be with you and to help you and you look amazing I'm just so thankful thank you we have finally got to meet you I know this last couple years with COVID and everything we couldn't connect but this thank you chief two percent of this up. I mean I told him the story and I was like I can't I don't know how to reach out to them it's really hard because my emails would bounce right and we tried to meet up a couple of times and you're busy and that's that's a good thing you're protecting us so I just hadn't given up I was like I will find a way I told my sister let's just surprise them with a gift basket we just hadn't figured out how to do it and locate you so Sheldon came into play I was like Sheldon you know everything. It was very easy because I'm actually a bomb tech with Jennifer's husband Tom and so one phone call I got hold of both of them that was it that's how quick it was so it was it made it very easy so I'm glad everything worked out okay because I mean it's just kind of a miracle how the connection worked through all of you guys and you came together at that time and spot and here we are today to celebrate it yeah so with that let's have some more celebration the parents would like to give you some awards if you wouldn't mind oh do you mind do you want to yeah actually um we give birth to our daughter but you give the life and right really it's from my heart thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much thank you would you like to get the award and if you wanted to present you from our community um my parents and our family are part of Ongur which is um it's a Bengali association in northern Indian association and you know you guys help us all the time so we wanted to present you with some plex yeah thank you so much thank you thank you so much thank you so much we appreciate everything you do this is awesome thank you so much thank you very much I just got my hair down like a couple of days fired um I do remember that I uh might have sassed one of the EMTs about pulling on my freshly dyed blue hair at the time oh yeah I came back with a vengeance thank you oh my gosh thank you so much thank you thank you thank you and not to say there's not much more left but we have more um we have some awards also from the governor's office of emergency services uh presented to both Jay thank you very much you're gonna have hands shaping in my hands too congratulations sir from the governor's office and also for Jennifer thank you so much thank you very much for all you this is a small token for really what you did off duty amazing and the amazing rewards we have here um to do it it's just it's so special thank you thank you with that any other special words I just thank you so much that's that's I can't I can't say that enough um I will say like I said came back with a vengeance um I too am now trying to save the world from a public health perspective but no I appreciate it so much thank you I had so many things and none of them were done so absolutely and also thank you from our dog um he yes he gets too excited in small places he's a big boy um yeah just wanted to say thank you from the entire family thank you so much we're glad we're here yeah thank you thank you well and thank you everybody for attending uh this will end the session and I think the uh celebration will continue on as we move forward but thank you