Folks from across Baldwin County came out last week to the Gulf Shores Airport to welcome home Elberta Police Chief Stan DeVane from a Western vacation that turned into an almost fatal accident and a month’s long stay in various hospitals.
“I’m happy to be back home in Elberta,” DeVane said, to a sign waving, cheering crowd happy to have him back in Baldwin County.
DeVane was on the vacation with his wife Debbie, Elberta Mayor Jim Hamby and his wife and another friend out in Wyoming before the accident occurred.
“We were at Bob’s Creek in Bridger-Teton National Forest, which is just south of Yellowstone,” Hamby said. “We made base camp and had rented some horses, and our intention was to ride them around camp a few days to get familiar with the horses. But there was a delay in getting the horses and some confusion about other different factors, so we only got to ride them around the camp one day.”
Hamby said he, DeVane and George had gone off on an excursion without the wives and were several miles away from the base camp.
“We rode for about six hours and were around 20 miles away from our base camp,” Hamby said. “I turned around to take a picture of Stan on his horse, and then Stan said he’d take a picture of me. I turned back around and then he turned around to take a picture of George. That’s when I heard Stan holler ‘Whoa!’”
Hamby said he turned around and saw DeVane’s horse had all four feet several feet off the ground.
“Stan was another 18 inches or so above the saddle at that point,” Hamby said. “The horse bucked about four times and then turned, and when we he did Stan fell off and landed flat on his back.”
DeVane said his memory of the event is somewhat fuzzy.
“The horse I was riding just went to the rodeo with me,” DeVane said. “It didn’t give any warning, didn’t give me a chance to adjust in the saddle. And when I came to, I was on the ground.”
Hamby said DeVane’s head whiplashed upon impact with the ground and he had the wind knocked out of him.
“He said ‘I don’t even know what happened’ and laid down for a bit, and then five minutes later popped up again and said ‘I don’t even know what happened,’ like he hadn’t said it before,” Hamby said. “That prompted me to think he had a concussion and I suspected he had some broken ribs, which is a common injury with falling off a horse like that.”
Hamby said they waited for about 20 minutes before he and George started the conversation about what to do about DeVane.
“Stan was not going to be able to ride a horse off the mountain today, tomorrow or even next week,” Hamby said. “We decided he was hurt too badly to come off of the mountain by himself, so one of us was going to have to go back to get help.”
Hamby said George set up a one-man tent and sleeping bag for DeVane at the site of the accident to help protect him from the elements and mosquitos.
Hamby said he left about 6:30 p.m. to head back to the base camp, but said he knew there was no way he could make it back in six hours.
“As long I get back there a little bit before daylight, I knew we’d still be good because they wouldn’t fly a helicopter to come get him until daylight,” Hamby said.
Hamby said he started making his way back with about four hours of daylight, but had difficulties finding his way along the trail after nightfall.
“The moonlight made it appear as if there were twelve trails instead of one trail,” Hamby said. “By this point, the horse is just give out, so I’m having to get off and walk for a mile and lead the horse. About midnight, I was about spent and so was the horse so we just stopped for a while.”
Hamby said he made it back to the base camp about 1:30 a.m. and woke his wife Susan up.
“I thought she could help me bring the news to Debbie,” Hamby said. “I told her I wanted her to communicate this to Debbie and then to take Debbie and drive out 10 miles to get cell phone coverage, call 911 and tell them what happened and the general area he was in. I had to get some rest because the next morning, I had to get up and help get George and the horses and all of the equipment back down the mountain.”
Hamby said he showed the sheriff where DeVane was located around 5 a.m. and by 7 a.m., they had him on the helicopter heading for a hospital in Idaho. Even while injured, Hamby said DeVane maintained his trademark sense of humor.
“The pilot had to take the helicopter over the Teton Mountains because they’re going to Idaho Falls, Idaho to get to the hospital,” Hamby said. “The pilot whipped the helicopter down to where Stan could get a good view of the mountains and Stan said ‘That’s pretty cool. Would you go down the other side for me?’”
At the hospital in Idaho Falls, they determined DeVane had seven broken ribs, two cracked teeth and had to put five stitches in his skin. DeVane was in the hospital there from Tuesday until Saturday.
Hamby said they returned to the base camp following his discharge from the hospital and said DeVane wanted to go up to Yellowstone Park as planned.
He said he could tell DeVane lacked energy going through the park and was concerned that his injuries were still a problem.
“The next morning, he was worse than when he went to bed,” Hamby said. “My wife and Debbie made the decision that he needed to go back to the hospital, to drive him back to Idaho Falls.”
An hour into the drive back to Idaho Falls, DeVane told his wife he just wanted to come back to Alabama and made it to Laramie, Wyoming before stopping for the night.
“Debbie said the next morning he was even worse, so she told him he had to go the hospital,” Hamby said. “They went to the hospital in Laramie and they told him he was critically ill. They said ‘He needs to be in the hospital, but he doesn’t need to be in this hospital.’”
They then took DeVane by helicopter to the Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado, which is an hour outside of Denver.
At that hospital, it was determined DeVane had a MRSA infection in his blood and pneumonia in addition to his other injuries.
DeVane remained in the Medical Center of the Rockies fighting those issues until his return home last week.
Debbie said she was grateful for all of the support shown to her husband from across Baldwin County.
“It meant so much to him and all of us to have everyone back home praying for Stan and sending us well wishes and support,” Debbie said. “We can’t thank everyone enough for everything they’ve done for us.”
DeVane still has some recovery ahead from the injuries, but when asked if he would go horseback riding again in the future, his answer was immediate.
“Of course I will,” DeVane said, with a smile. “Just maybe not another rented one.”
