On 12-31-2014 the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received an unexpected donation in the amount of $50,000 dollars from Carol C. Davis, who now lives in Elk Grove, California. Mrs. Davis was expressing her gratitude, because members of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office came to her rescue on April 7, 1990 after a plane crash near the Kneeland airport.
On April 7, 1990, Carol Davis along with three other people were flying to Humboldt County to attend a Chevrolet car dealership meeting. They were all flying inside of a Beechcraft, A36, aircraft. Merle Stone was the pilot of the aircraft and his wife Ima Stone was a passenger. Carol Davis was traveling with her husband, Walt Davis, who owned several Chevrolet dealerships in California. Both couples were friends and were coming to Humboldt County for the meeting.
On April 7, 1990 at about 12:30 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office sent two deputies to the Kneeland airport, Kneeland to check for an overdue aircraft. The Sheriff’s Office had received a phone call from FAA about an aircraft that was on instrument approach to the Arcata/Eureka airport 12 miles to the south when it lost radio contact. The two deputies just happened to be in the Showers Pass area near Kneeland on routine mountain patrol at the time of the call.
When deputies arrived near the Kneeland airport at 2:00 p.m. they saw a small amount of smoke coming from a hillside near the airport. The deputies were able to access a dirt road towards the smoke. When deputies arrived on scene they discovered the wreckage of a small aircraft on the hillside, which was on fire. The deputies then saw a female subject lying on the ground about 40 feet away from the aircraft wreckage waving her hands and yelling for help.
Deputies immediately went to her location and identified her as Carol Davis. Deputies said Carol was conscious and talking and was complaining about being cold. Davis was rendered first aid and medical personnel were immediately contacted to respond to the scene along with the Fire Department. When medical arrived on scene Carol was transported to a local hospital. Tragically Carol’s husband Walt and Merle and Ima Stone did not survive the crash. The cause of the crash was determined to be too low of an approach causing the plane to hit trees.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office wants to express their gratitude on the generous and thoughtful donation from Carol Davis. The Davis family requested the money be used to purchase much needed equipment for the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit and the Humboldt Sheriff’s Posse.
Mike Downey, Sheriff