Wayland Officer Helps Man Badly Injured in a Fall on Ice

WAYLAND, MA - An elderly man has Wayland Officer Sean Fitzgerald to thank for rescuing him after a bad fall on an icy driveway.

According to Fitzgerald, he was patrolling the neighborhood around Caulfield Road Thursday evening in search of an overdue teenager when he spotted a vehicle parked in a driveway with its lights on and the driver’s-side door open. Looking more closely, Fitzgerald saw a person lying under the car.

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Fitzgerald said he immediately turned his vehicle back and asked the man if he needed help. The victim told Fitzgerald had fallen, sustaining serious injuries and making it impossible for him to get back into his house.

“The driveway was all ice,” Fitzgerald said. “He told me he was trying to honk the horn, but hadn’t gotten to it yet.”

According to a police statement, the man, who sustained broken bones, dragged himself nearly 30 feet to his car before Fitzgerald found him.

Fitzgerald immediately called for paramedics and offered first aid to the victim.

”I was holding him up and telling him the fire department was on the way,” Fitzgerald said. “I didn’t want to move him and injure him any more. I was very concerned about his leg. It just didn’t look right.”

Paramedics treated the man for his injuries and exposure to the cold. According to Fitzgerald, the man estimated he’d been outside for 45 minutes before the officer arrived.

The victim was transported to Metrowest Natick Hospital where he is recovering.

Temperatures at the time of the incident were in the single digits, and paramedics said the man had been close to losing consciousness. He may not have survived had Fitzgerald not come to his aid, according to a police statement.

”It was just being in the right place at the right time,” Fitzgerald said. “It wasn’t anything I did that was so miraculous. I just saw someone that needed help and I helped him. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”