EPD recruit on ride-along helps save infant’s life

Presenter: Eugene’s independent police auditor shared a story about a recent ride-along with the Police Department.  At the March 10 Civilian Review Board, Craig Renetzky:

Craig Renetzky (Eugene, independent police auditor): I did a ride-along the month before and saw somebody’s lives get saved. This one I was not there. They got the initial call, which was along the lines of a 10-month-old in cardiac arrest, but yet again, EPD beat the Fire Department to the location.

Just so everyone has a bit of a perspective, EPD has in their patrol cars AEDs, automatic defibrillators. So in this sort of a case, having them respond is great. They got to the scene and there was a 10-month-old infant that was in cardiac arrest.

In case anyone’s ever thinking about getting into law enforcement, this isn’t something that veterans are necessarily responding to. The officer that arrived was a Phase 0 recruit. 

Presenter: Phase 0 refers to a recruit who has not yet been to the police academy, and is riding along not necessarily for enforcement purposes, but to gain exposure to the job. Craig Renetzky: 

Craig Renetzky (Eugene, independent police auditor): So yeah, welcome to the Police Department. This is what’s in your future.  (laughter)

And once again, EPD saved a life. So again, that’s a real highlight. Just an amazing job by these officers and again, we get to always see a lot of the negative and I think it’s always nice to highlight some of the positives.

Yeah. So for these particular officers, for this event, this was probably something they won’t forget any time soon.

Presenter: Eugene Independent Police Auditor Craig Renetzky praises EPD officers, including a Phase 0 recruit on a ride-along, who saved a ten-month-old in cardiac arrest.