East Hampton Town Officers Save Three in Six Days

East Hampton Town police officers saved the lives of three people last week when they responded to very different medical emergencies. Calls had come in about a woman who was choking, a heroin overdose, and what turned out to be an apparent suicide attempt. 

“It’s why we train as much as we do,” Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said yesterday as he described each of the cases and praised the officers for their able responses and quick thinking. The names of the persons whose lives were saved were not available.

The most dramatic incident occurred on Saturday at about 3:30 a.m. Police receive hundreds of 911 calls a year, most of which are accidental or routine. They nevertheless try to identify the source of each call to make certain there is no emergency, Chief Sarlo said.

This time, police received a 911 call, but the line went dead.

Police Officer Lisa Weitz, one of the most senior patrol officers in the department, responded, although the police dispatcher was unable to give her an exact location since the call had been made on a cellphone. The only information available was that the call had apparently come from the vicinity of Copeces Lane in Springs.

Aware that such information is often inaccurate, Officer Weitz nevertheless searched the area. Noticing a car in a driveway on Copeces Lane with its taillights on, she investigated and discovered the car’s engine was running with a tube connecting the exhaust to the interior of the vehicle. A man inside was attempting suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning and was unresponsive and barely breathing, Chief Sarlo said.

Police Officer Weitz pulled the man from the car and administered oxygen, also turning off the engine and disconnecting the hose. Springs Fire Department emergency medical service providers were called, and as they arrived he came to.

“When you go to one of these and save a life, it’s worthwhile,” Chief Sarlo said of the many 911 calls that are often a challenge.

Then, on Sunday evening at about 10:30, a report came in that 24-year-old man was suffering from an apparent life-threatening heroin overdose in a house on Washington Drive in Montauk. Police found the young man unresponsive with his breathing depressed.

Police Officer Joseph Izzo, whoin his spare time volunteers as an emergency medical technician with the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association, arrived as did Officer Katie Izzo (his wife) and Officer Frank Sokolowski. It was Officer Izzo’s second emergency call last week.

They administered Narcan, a brand of naloxone that can reverse the effects of opioid drugs in a patient whose breathing rate is dangerously low. The patient became alert, and the Montauk Fire Department ambulance took him to Southampton Hospital. 

Police officers began carrying Narcan about a year ago. This was the second life town police had saved with the drug so far, Chief Sarlo said. “It may be the link that saves them from brain damage or death.” 

The earlier emergency to which Officer Izzo responded occurred at midday on April 20, also in Montauk. A 78-year-old woman at a residence on Monroe Drive had choked on food. When the officer arrived, at about 12:28 p.m., she was unresponsive and not breathing. He began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as did Montauk Fire Department first responders. She regained a pulse en route to Southampton Hospital, and survived.

“Ultimately, the credit goes to Joe and the first responder” for early C.P.R., Chief Sarlo said.

Neither of the incidents last week was the first time Officer Izzo had saved a life. Along with Officer David Martin, he had helped resuscitate a man whose industrial lawn mower flipped over onto him in Montauk in 2014.

“I’m very proud of the work of these officers, and how it reflects on the training and professionalism of our agency,” the chief said. “It goes to show what may be considered a quieter time of year can also bring these kind of calls,” he said.

He noted that the emergencies happened on three different shifts and he credited the responding officers for “keeping their cool, utilizing their training, and working with the E.M.S. personnel to save three lives in six days.”