Police officer saves transplant team and organ after snowy crash

LANCASTER COUTY, PENNSYLVANIA — A police officer from Pennsylvania saved a life this past weekend, but not in the way you might expect.

It started as a routine call for a snowy morning.  Reports that a SUV had slid off Route 222 near the turnpike and lost a tire.

No one was hurt and yet it was still a life or death situation.

Doctor Warren Maley was in that SUV, along with a transplant team taking a liver from a donor at York Hospital to a patient already prepped for surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.  Time was of the essence.

The officer, Sergeant Darrick Keppley, couldn't get in touch with his chief right away-- but he didn't hesitate.  He hopped on the turnpike with all of them and the liver in the car and rushed 61 miles from the accident scene to the hospital.

"He went lights and sirens and that got us there probably twice as fast," says Dr. Maley. "That was quite a god send."

The surgery was a success.

Dr. Maley says, "There were really two heroes here. Certainly the organ donor and Sgt. Keppley."

The police chief hopes to arrange a meeting between the sergeant and the organ recipient.

Cox Media Group