Eagle Grove native receives Sullivan Brothers’ Award of Valor

Most people would think of it as heroic - Matt Eimers thinks of it as just another day on the job, doing nothing different than any of his colleagues would do in a life-anddeath situation. He may have received the Sullivan Brothers’ Award of Valor, but to him, it belongs to everyone who puts on a uniform and puts their life on the line to serve and protect.

It was the morning of December 12, 2015. Iowa State Patrol Trooper Matt Eimers, a Webster City resident (and former Eagle Grove native) received a call to assist with a potential jumper on the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge over the Des Moines River basin in Fort Dodge. Lieutenant Dennis Mernka and Officer Nathan Eldredge, both of the Fort Dodge Police Department, had already been talking with the male subject for roughly a half hour when they decided to call Eimers, a crisis negotiator, in for assistance.

“The subject was at the highest point of the bridge...about 188 feet,” Eimers recalled.

Read the full article in the October 13 edition of the Eagle.