Trooper John Kranchick, a Coaldale native, was commended by Col. Rocco P. Urella, state police commissioner, for his role in saving the life of an injured motorist in a traffic accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Harrisburg.

Louis J. Cingle, a sailor assigned to the USS Lowry, was en route to Philadelphia when the accident happened. Kranchick was on patrol at the time and came upon the accident in which the artery of Cingle’s neck was severed, resulting in him hemorrhaging. The trooper administered aid, halting the flow of blood until ambulance personnel arrived, saving the life of Cingle, who remains a patient in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital where he is recuperating.