It was the case of being in the right place at the right time for two Iowa State University police officers Saturday. Captain Gene Deisinger says officers Joel Swanson and Derek Doebel were conducting a traffic stop Saturday when another came up the street, weaving and moving into the wrong lane. He says Sergeant Swanson saw the driver of the vehicle slumped down in his seat and apparently unconscious. The car then drove over the curb and the officers check and found the man did not have a pulse. Deisinger says the officers then administered C-P-R to man and used a portable Automated External Defibrillator to shock his heart back into a beat. Deisinger says the unidentified 70-year-old man from Urbandale was lucky in several respects.He says the man lost consciousness right in front of two trained officers, and he says Swanson is the department’s medical officer who was the one that advocated getting the defibrillators for the department’s cars. Deisinger says this is the first time an officer has had to use one of the devices since they were installed in the patrol cars several years ago. He says it certainly drives home the point made by Sergeant Swanson and others about the point of having the devices readily available and appropriately trained officers to be able to save a life. Deisinger says it appears that’s what happened in this case.
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