Policeman who saved collapsed man's life given national award
A Staffordshire police officer who saved the life of a man suffering a heart attack has received a prestigious award.
Pc Thomas McLaughlin was on patrol with his colleague Jess McKie at the Queensville Retail Park in Stafford, on May 10 last year, when they saw a crowd of people gathered at the roadside.
After finding a man who was not breathing, Pc McKie began controlling passing traffic and keeping onlookers back, while Pc McLaughlin began administering CPR to the man.
When an ambulance arrived, the crew managed to stabilise the patient, who was then taken to hospital and successfully recovered.
Pc McLaughlin has now been awarded a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate and won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, secretary of the society, for playing a major role in bringing the man back from the brink of death.
Mr Chapman said: "If the two officers had not arrived on the scene when they did and if Pc McLaughlin had not started CPR immediately there could have been a very different ending to this incident.
"With CPR it is essential that it is started as soon as possible and in this case fortunately there was virtually no delay between the man collapsing and CPR being started.
"Without doubt it played a major role in saving the man’s life.
"This is another case which emphasises the value of as many people as possible, not just members of the emergency services, learning the procedure.
"It can, as it did here make the difference between life and death."
The award to Pc McLaughlin is one of many by the society, who reward non-health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation.
Since it was set up, the society has considered more than 87,000 cases and made more than 200,000 awards.
