Three St. Cloud Troopers Honored at State Patrol Awards Ceremony

ST. PAUL -- Citizens, troopers, and other public servants were honored Friday at the annual Minnesota State Patrol Awards Ceremony.

Each year the event highlights people who performed heroic acts that saved lives. Colonel Matt Langer says those honored went above and beyond just doing their jobs.

I like to think about it as they did their job just like we pay them to do, and just like Minnesotans rely on them to do, but then the core value is like the style points on top of it where you take a critical incident and you apply a trooper, commercial vehicle inspector, capital security officer, support staff, or dispatcher, and you apply their skill and ability to that situation and they take a chaotic crisis and they literally tie a red bow on top of it.

Three St. Cloud State Patrol members were honored for their heroism in 2020 and 2021 at the virtual event. Trooper Brandon Prowatzke was given a Life Saving Award for assisting a driver and passenger who were unresponsive to breathe following a DUI crash by using Narcan and a bag valve mask until medics arrived.

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The Meritorious Service Award was given to Trooper Steve Quern and Sergeant James Brings. Quern was honored for helping take out an active shooter in Albert Lea who had fired over 90 rounds in a neighborhood, damaging property and injuring a police officer and two citizens.

Langer says Brings was given the award for his response to the active shooter situation at the Allina Health Clinic in Buffalo.

Probably no more difficult situation could be thrust upon law enforcement than an active shooter situation. What he did was use his squad car. He drove the squad car and everyone else followed him, using it as cover. He put himself in harm's way that day and was one of the critical reasons why law enforcement was able to make entry.

Nearly 50 people were honored at the event in total.