On Thursday, August 25, 2016, Hazelwood police officer, Craig Tudor was in a car crash. While Tudor was responding to a call to assist another officer, a different car going the opposite way of Tudor crashed into him. The car was making a left turn when it made contact with Tudor’s car. Tudor’s car then drove off the road and was overturned.

Hazelwood police officer Scott Schnurbusch was answering to the same call. Going the same way as Tudor, Schnurbusch saw the flipped police car. Schnurbusch was not the first officer on the scene, but a St. Louis County Police Officer was the first to notice it. None of the officers knew who it was. They couldn’t even look inside the vehicle to know who the officer was.

“One of the other officers was responding to a mental health crisis call,” said officer Schnurbusch “I was the first Hazelwood car on scene. I ended up going through traffic mode in my mind, and started working the crash like I would any other crash.”

Tudor was taken to Craig Hospital in Colorado where he spent a lot of time in the rehab program. He was at the same place as Officer Mike Flamion from the Ballwin Police Department. Tudor was also accompanied by his wife, Christine Tudor.

“It’s been life changing. Craig Hospital helps you adapt to the way you’re going to have to live based on your injury.”

The Tudor family won’t have to worry about the medical bills because the community has held various fundraisers. On September 3, 2016, Redbirds Cafe and the Hazelwood Police Wives Association hosted a fundraiser for Craig Tudor. The turnout of this event was tremendous and raised over $10,000. Countless amount of people came to support Tudor. Moreover, this was only one of many fundraisers for Tudor. 

On December 13th, Tudor came back home to St. Louis. When he got off the plane there were people all around to greet him, and welcome back. 

“It was heartwarming to see that the Southwest airlines, Airport police, and the United States immigration service were all there helping him to get through the airport to go to his home, ” said Officer Major Ken Jewson.