Ridley Park officer honored for saving woman’s life
RIDLEY PARK >> It wasn’t “just another day at the office” for Patrolman Thomas Byrne Jr. last July 26.
When the township police officer was dispatched to the parking lot at 109 E. Sellers Ave. for a medical emergency he found that an unresponsive female was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Byrne immediately began CPR and after several minutes of chest compressions the woman began to show signs of a pulse. Additional medical personnel arrived on the scene and transported the woman to the hospital.
Byrne and Joan MacIntosh, the woman whose life he saved, met up at borough hall recently when council honored Byrne with a resolution for his heroic actions. And he received a thank you and a hug from MacIntosh, who later said she spent three weeks in the hospital after her ordeal in the parking lot. Mayor Hank Eberle presented the resolution to Byrne.
“I’m proud of Tommy,” Police Chief Robert Frazier said of Byrne. “We’re lucky here in Ridley Park to have the caliber of officers like Tommy.”
Byrne is a graduate of Monsignor Bonner High School and Neumann University with a degree in public safety. He is a former full-time firefighter at Boeing Helicopters. He is the son of retired Ridley Park Police Chief Thomas Byrne, who was in the audience when the resolution was presented, and the brother of Chester City Detective Cpl. Steven Byrne.
In another police matter, Eberle administered the oath of office to parttime officer Mckenzie Sperratore, 22, a graduate of Cardinal O’Hara High School and Cabrini University, where she majored in Criminal Justice. She is presently a student at St. Joseph’s University in a graduate program for Criminal Intelligence Analysis. She interned at the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Unit of the District Attorney’s office, assigned to Elder Law and White Collar Crimes units.
In his report at the meeting, community affairs committee chairman Mike Gale reminded residents not to mix plastics and trash with yard waste, which is a separate curbside pick-up aside from regular trash collection. He noted violations are subject to a $100 fine.
Council president Jim Glenn announced there is a vacancy for borough secretary and anyone interested in applying for the position should apply at the borough office, 105 E. Ward Street.