Pair recognized with departmental award
By Erik Buchinger
Clintonville police officers Anthony Arrieta and Cody Rollin recently received the department’s Live Saving Award for their roles in a 2017 emergency.
Arrieta and Rollin were honored after assisting a man who was had a heart condition.
“It’s nice to get the recognition, but it’s not why we do what we do,” Rollin said. “We do this to keep the community safe. That’s our job.”
The officers received an ambulance call to one of the buildings at Walker Forge for a man who had a heart condition and was not breathing.
“Upon arrival, the workers at Walker Forge had already started CPR,” Arrieta said. “Myself and Rollin jumped in and continued those efforts until the ambulance arrived on scene. We assisted loading him in and off to the hospital.”
Arrieta said he was impressed with the work done prior to the officers and ambulance service arriving.
“The crew there already working on him had their own [Automated External Defibrillator] in there, which was amazing,” Arrieta said. “That’s probably the reason he is alive today.”
Arrieta said he and Rollin took a CPR trauma course with the Shawano Police Department where they received their most recent certification for CPR, AED and First Aid.
This is Rollin’s first Live Saving Award, while Arrieta received one with Officer Tyler Bartel for their response to a fire in downtown Clintonville in October 2016.
Arrieta provided advice on what to do when somebody suffers a cardiac incident.
“Dial 911 and get that emergency help coming right away,” Arrieta said. “If there is anybody in the area who knows how to do CPR, the sooner they can help out, the better.”
Arrieta said he is proud to receive his second Life Saving Award.
“It feels really nice, but that’s not why we do this,” Arrieta said. “It’s nice to have the recognition, but ultimately I’m just trying to do my job and do the best I can to benefit the community. If I can help somebody along the way, that’s great.”
Arrieta said he is thankful the Walker Forge workers were able to step in right away.
“If not for the crew at Walker Forge, who knows what could have happened?” Arrieta said. “Then we just jumped in and teamworked the situation. It all worked out very nicely.”