Township patrolmen save a life

When Chris Kascik and Kevin Zorn arrived at a driveway off Brandon Road, a man lay motionless on the pavement.

By John Tredrea
   When Hopewell Township Patrolmen Chris Kascik and Kevin Zorn arrived at a driveway off Brandon Road in response to a 911 call Saturday afternoon, a man lay motionless on the pavement.
   Checking quickly, the officers found he had no heartbeat and no pulse.
   All township patrol cars carry an automatic external defibrillator, a device used to administer an electric shock that can stimulate a stopped heart to begin beating again.
   Officers Kascik and Zorn used the defibrillator to administer one shock to the fallen man, then began giving him CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
   "They brought him back," township police Capt. George Meyer said Wednesday morning of the officers’ successful efforts to save a victim of heart failure.
   Capt. Meyer said the victim, a 50-year-old Trenton man, is in the Capital Health System, Fuld Campus, where he is still in the intensive care unit. Because they have not obtained permission of his family to do so, police would not release the man’s name.
   The 911 call was made at 4:10 p.m. Saturday by a resident who saw the man collapse while walking in the driveway. Responding along with Officers Kascik and Zorn were the Pennington First Aid Squad and Mercer County Lifemobile.