Cheshire Officers Recognized for Saving a Life

Feb. 11 of this year is a day Cheshire resident Amy Smith is not likely to forget.

It was shortly after the February blizzard and conditions outside were still treacherous. All in all, it was not a good day to need emergency services, but it was that day that Smith collapsed in her home, going into cardiac arrest. 

But luckily for her, Officers Thomas Wright and Jeffrey Falk were on duty and responded to the call. If not for them, she might not be alive, Smith said.

The two Cheshire Police Officers recently received the town's Life Saving Award to recognize their actions that day.

Smith was unconscious, had no pulse and was not breathing when officers arrived, according to Cheshire Police Chief Neil Dryfe. Smith's husband had been doing CPR, he said, and when Wright arrived he used a defibrillator on her and administered chest compressions. 

Wright administered a total of three shocks to Smith while Falk cleared her airways. When medics arrived, they took over and was able to revive her.

But Smith said that without the help of the first responders, she wouldn't have been alive by the time the medics arrived.

Dryfe agreed.

"There's not a doubt in my mind Mrs. Smith is here today because of work of these officers," he said.