The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Police officers receive life saving awards
For the life-saving efforts they have made, four Willoughby Police Department officers recently received awards from the Lake County Police Chiefs Association.
Lt. John Begovic, Patrolman Kevin Crowley, Patrolman Matt Neath and Patrolman Paul Sciarrino were involved in two incidents that led them to the recognition they received. The incident that Begovic and Sciarrino were involved in dates back to April 5, 2019, said Police Chief Jim Schultz.
“They had responded to an active fire at Willow Park Apartments on the second floor of the building,” Schultz said. “This was about 1:20 a.m. and when they arrived there, they found that there were several children that were able to escape out of the apartment and notify the neighbor that the kitchen stove had caught on fire.”
With the apartment engulfed in flames, and with smoke throughout the apartment and the building, Sciarrino and Begovic ran upstairs after grabbing fire extinguishers from their vehicles, Schultz said. They proceeded to knock on the apartment door to see if anyone else was left inside.
“They could hear a woman screaming from the inside,” Schultz said. “They opened up the door and what they saw was the apartment filled with smoke, and they could see that there was a fire inside the kitchen. They could hear the female from one of the back bedrooms and she was yelling she couldn’t find her children.”
The woman was unaware of her children having escaped already, Schultz continued. When the officers asked her to come to the from of the apartment, she was unable to out of fear.
“Begovic and Sciarrino ran through all the smoke and were able to find the female,” the chief said. “In that situation, with the sheer panic of the fire and the kids, that was not an easy task, but the officers were able to get her out to safety while consuming all kinds of black smoke.
“They are back to work since then and working just fine, and doing all kinds of great things for our city as of today.”
The second incident that led to Crowley’s and Neath’s recognition took place July 22, 2020, Schultz said, when a call for a 14-month-old child choking on an apple was made.
At the time, the fire department had responded to two other calls, leaving them stretched in manpower.
“Officers Crowley and Neath were patrolling in an area close by the victim’s residence, and they responded to the scene,” Schultz said. “Based on dash cam footage, the officers ran into the house as soon as they got there. They immediately started performing life-saving measures and were able to get the apple dislodged from the child’s throat.”
Crowley and Neath had to perform the life-saving measures for over five minutes, Schultz said. By the time the rescue squad personnel arrived, the child immediately had to be taken to Lake Health Medical Center.
Schultz said he is “blessed” to have that type of dedication and loyalty within his police department.
“If it weren’t for the measures done by Crowley and Neath, we would not have had a happy ending on this story,” he said. “This is another example of the dedication of all four of these officers. In the time when a parent is struck with grief and the emotions that follow, I’m proud to say this is typical of my officers.”