Salisbury Police Commended For Saving Man's Life

Four Salisbury Township police officers who recently saved the life of a man who suffered an apparent heart attack and had no pulse, will receive special commendations for their efforts.

Sgt. Donad Sabo and officers Kevin Kress, Bryan Losagio and Richard Nothstein will each be awarded the police department's Life Saving Award pin and recognized for their work at a township board of commissioners meeting, said Chief Allen Stiles.

In addition, Noll Medical Corporation, the manufacturer of the automatic external defibrillator, or AED, they used to revive the man,  has recognized the officers with its Clinical Save Award.

The man they had saved had flatlined, Stiles said.  "He was clinically dead. He is alive because of these four officers," he said.

At about 11 a.m.  on February 21,  Salisbury police got the 911 call that a 76-year-old man had collapsed in his office in the 3000 block of S. Pike Ave, a block away from police headquarters. 

When police arrived, the man was unconscious, lying supine on the floor, but he had no pulse and was not breathing, said Officer Kevin Kress.  A colleague had already started CPR. 

The man was turning blue and they could not detect a heartbeat, Kress said. Sgt. Don Sabo, a trained EMT, directed and administered the primary care. "He spearheaded the whole thing," Kress said.  Using an AED, they applied a single shock, then performed CPR.  But there was still no response.

They applied a second shock, after which the man started to breathe on his own and a pulse was palpable, Kress said. The officers continued to supply oxygen through the oral airway Sabo had inserted. A St. Luke's EMS squad arrived and transported the man to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.