Fortville’s Chris King was awarded the Life Saving Award for his actions while on duty July 2.
Photo from Fortville’s Police Department website.
FORTVILLE — Chief of Police Patrick Bratton of the Fortville Police Department announced detective Chris King as the recipient for a Life Saving Award on Monday night at Fortville’s Town Council meeting.
“The Fortville Police Department in recognition of the officers, their actions and outstanding efforts in their service to the community and their fellow officers. Keeping with this belief, the police department recognizes detective Chris King for his outstanding efforts that occurred on July 2,” Bratton said to the council.
On that day, Bratton said that a 911 call had come into dispatch reporting a person suffering from cardiac arrest in a vehicle located somewhere on 200 W, Fortville.
The person inside the vehicle was unresponsive and did not have a pulse. King was working regular road patrol at the time but knew he was in close proximity of where the call located the person, so he responded.
King, alongside with with Hancock County Deputy Pruitt and Indiana Conservation Master Officer Johnson, had started the life-saving measures by using an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and performing CPR.
Once a pulse was detected and an airway was established, the person was transported to the hospital.
Bratton told the council at the meeting that “King’s quick response, recognition of the severity of the emergency and immediate reactions directly resulted in the saving of a life of a person in cardiac arrest. Failure to act or action after delay would have resulted in a tragic outcome.”
Frederick “Fritz” Fentz, Fortville Town Council president, mentioned that he was very proud when the award was given at the meeting Monday night.
“I think Patrick Bratton is doing a great job with the guys that he has. They’re a good mix,” Fentz said.
Fentz had also mentioned that just a few years ago, before his time on council, defibrillators were added to police vehicles. Fentz said that, typically, police officers were the first ones on a scene because they were already in their vehicles.
“It makes sense to make sure they had those defibrillators and make sure they knew how to operate them. But I can’t take credit for that. That was done before me, but it was a great idea,” Fentz said.
The award given Monday night is King’s second one this year, the other being awarded after a similar situation.
“I enjoy it (handing out the awards),” Bratton said. “Knowing that they have had the training, the experience and they can keep their calm. I know that they are out there doing their job, doing it properly and their giving it their best.”
