Tufts Officers Helped Save Worker After Power Line Accident

GRAFTON, MA — Two Tufts University police officers received an award recently for helping to save a utility worker after a power line accident near the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine over the summer.

According to the university, the worker went into cardiac arrest after the accident, which took place near the Cummings School campus in late August. A Tufts facilities worker who drove by the scene was able to radio the officers for help.

Tufts Officer Brett Morava and Lt. Glenn McCune were the first to respond, and were equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) machine. They used it to restart the worker's heart before he was taken to a nearby hospital.

McCune and Morava received an award from the Massachusetts Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (MACLEA) in December. It was the second time they've received a MACLEA safety award — Morava and McCune used an AED to resuscitate a Cummings School employee who went into cardiac arrest while at work in 2018.

"It was only after we got the AED units that we were able to bring people back — and the AED has been used successfully on other campuses as well," McCune said in a news release. “[Morava] and I had the AED on our last two calls for patients in cardiac arrest, and both people survived.”