Bike Cops Save Tourist Who Collapsed On Michigan Avenue
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two Chicago police officers on bike patrol along the Magnificent Mile on Tuesday helped save the life of a 75-year-old tourist who had collapsed on the street.
Officers Michael Lawrence and Sergio Valdez, with the Central District bicycle unit, were flagged down around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, by witnesses who led them to a man lying in the middle of Michigan Avenue.
"He was not breathing. He was pale. He had no pulse. He looked like he might have been gone," Lawrence said.
Valdez said his partner immediately began chest compressions on the victim. They saw his airway was blocked, and were able to clear it.
"We were directing traffic, too, to keep traffic away from the citizen. He was a tourist from Georgia," he said.
Both officers have been trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A doctor in a passing car stopped to help, as well, and an ambulance arrived quickly, and took the man to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.
Valdez and Lawrence said they're not heroes.
Lawrence said he wouldn't trade his police bicycle for a squad car.
"The bicycle actually is the best way to utilize getting around here in the city, I have to say," Lawrence said. "I would never, never get in a police car ever again.