Just doing his job, ma’am

Deepa Bharath

At first, Matthew Ashton thought he had heard a cat.

But the 18-year-old, who just graduated from Calvary Chapel High

School, put his dinner on pause and stepped into his backyard to

check it out.

As it turned out, what he had heard at about dinner time on July 1

was his 97-year-old neighbor’s crying out for help. Marie Litehausser

had slipped and fallen while feeding the birds in her backyard.

“When I saw her, I knew she had broken her leg,” said Ashton, who

has been in the Costa Mesa Police Department’s Explorer Program for

four years.

He walked barefoot into the backyard and jumped over a fence to

get to Litehauser.

“I stayed with her and chatted with her,” Ashton said. “She was

calm herself because she didn’t feel the pain.”

He waited till paramedics arrived and took care of Litehauser.

Ashton said Litehauser told him that she was there for about 40

minutes before he got to her and had let out feeble cries for help

every two minutes.

Ashton said his training with the Explorers taught him never to

take any situation for granted.

“I think being an Explorer made me think more, Made me more aware

of the public and that, maybe, someone needs my help,” he said.

Costa Mesa Police Officer Rob Dimel, who supervises the Explorer

program, said he is proud of the way Ashton responded to the

situation.

“I would have expected any of the other Explorers to react the

same way,” he said. “But I am glad that Matthew did the right thing,

because a lot of times, people don’t want to help or get involved.

The fact that he took the time to investigate and took action makes

me very happy.”

The Costa Mesa Police Department has 27 young people in its

Explorer program. Most of them are in high school and spend about

four years in the program like Ashton, Dimel said.

Ashton said being in the program has made him a different person

and has prepared him for a career in law enforcement.

“It’s taught me more self-control, discipline, leadership and

teamwork,” he said.

Ashton said he will attend the U.S. Coast Guard training program

in New Jersey in about six months.

Dimel said he plans to nominate Ashton for the Meritorious Action

Award handed out by the National Committee of Learning for Life and

Exploring of Orange County.

The officer, who works in the department’s gang unit, said people

like Ashton make his job worthwhile.

“I deal with gang members all the time,” he said. “But working

with Explorers and kids like Matthew, I’m often reminded that there

are good kids, too, and that’s a good thing for me, personally.”