Quick actions of Allegheny County police officer credited with saving man’s life

ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — The Allegheny County Police Department is recognizing one of its own for actions that saved someone’s life recently.

The officer had been at work for less than an hour at Pittsburgh International Airport when he heard about a medical emergency at the ticketing counter on a TSA agent’s radio. Before 911 county dispatch sent out its own call, the officer was already en route to save the man’s life.

“I was actually down below on the checkpoint level and we overheard a TSA agent radio on their radios that there was an incident and that’s when I started to that location,” Marc Pruchnitzky said.

Officer Pruchnitzky rushed to the United ticketing counter to save the 43-year-old man’s life. Within 30 seconds, Pruchnitzky found the man in cardiac arrest, on the ground, unresponsive and barely breathing. Fortunately, a good Samaritan at the airport had already brought an AED to the man’s side.

“The AED arrived just as I arrived and it made the entire process extremely convenient and it helped save that man’s life,” Pruchnitzky said.

Officer Pruchnitzky immediately started CPR.

“When I went to attempt the second round of CPR, midway through the CPR the male came back to consciousness,” Pruchnitzky said. “He actually started to speak with me at that point and he was able to tell me his name, where he was traveling to and that he is a local of the Pennsylvania area.”

The man was rushed to the hospital. Pruchnitzky doesn’t know how he’s doing now, but did get word the man made it to the hospital and was admitted.  Pruchnitzky is grateful for how things turned out.

“Relieved. I was just very thankful that he was able to come back out of it and I was just so happy that he was able to speak to me after the incident,” Pruchnitzky said.

The officer says as part of county police, they’re trained yearly on CPR and AEDs - something he says everyone should learn how to do.

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