EDWARDSVILLE - Four officers and one civilian were given awards at the March 21, 2017, meeting of the Edwardsville City Council following a Feb. 10, 2017, incident involving a motorist having a medical emergency.
Lt. Charlie Kohlberg of the Edwardsville Police Department, Edwardsville Police officers, Barb Frolik, Matt Hodskins, Matt Evers and Greg Baur were awarded the department's Life-Saving Award, and Edwardsville resident, Jerry Kato, was awarded the department's Meritorious Service Award. The awards were given following an incident, which took place on the morning of Feb. 10, 2017.
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"Officer Frolik was dispatched to a traffic crash near the 2100 block of Troy Road," Kohlberg said. "A citizen was working to hold in place a pickup truck, which was not stationary. It was continuing to roll forward. Frolik said the driver seemed to be having a medical emergency."
Officers Hodskins, Evers and Bauer were able to arrive on the scene and assisted Frolik in preventing the vehicle from rolling while she broke a passenger side window to get the driver and place the vehicle in park, so it could no longer keep rolling.
Kohlberg said officers then administered CPR and even an AED heart device to the motorist before the Edwardsville Fire Department was able to arrive on the scene and assume the duties of first aid. The man was then transported to a hospital.
That man is still alive, and was invited to last night's award ceremony. Kohlberg said the man was unable to attend, but said some members of his family were able to be there, adding they were extremely grateful for the work of those four officers and Kato to help their family member survive a dangerous and volatile situation.
"These officers did an outstanding job, especially acting spur-of-the-moment," he said. "They jumped into a situation, which was obviously fluid, and did what needed done at the time."
