Despite my own best efforts, and the equally mighty exertions by the search engines of Google, the Salinas California, and the Monterey County Herald, this formidable research team was unable to find any story during January, 2008 that says anything about a search and rescue effort in the VW at that time.
That is not to say it didn't happen. I do recall an extraction in the VW reported in the Herald about that time. I believe, however, that what triggered the search effort was the victim reporting that she was LOST. I don't recall anything about a sprained ankle.
One has to assume a certain amount of good judgment and reasonable discretion on the part of the 911 and SAR people to determine if the caller is in a real emergency before they call in a helicopter extraction. Portraying them as mounting an effort of that magnitude to a report of a sprained ankle makes it sound like they just rev up the choppers anytime someone calls like they are some airborne taxi service. Hardly plausible.
Also, as I stated above to Keith's post, a sprained ankle isn't always a trivial injury. I was completely immobilized by one I obtained the first and last time I went skiing. The doctor told me that I would have had less pain if I had broken my ankle. The point being a sprained ankle can strand you in the wilderness just like a fracture.
