Oklahoma officers honored for saving colleague who collapsed while delivering Christmas gifts
By Meghan Mosley
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PUTNAM CITY, Oklahoma (KOCO) — A Putnam City police officer was honored Wednesday after a mission to spread holiday cheer ended with needing a Christmas miracle.
It was a typical day in December when the Putnam City Police Department set out to deliver gifts for Christmas.
“It started off as a fun day, because we were delivering presents to one of our families we adopted through our Christmas program through care share,” Captain Greg Mauck of the Putnam City Public Schools Police said.
However, the situation quickly changed when Assistant Chief Herb Nelson suddenly collapsed.
“There was no warning signs, or he hadn’t been feeling bad or anything like that. He just doubled over when he was lifting presents out of the car,” Chief Mark Stout of the Putnam City Public Schools Police said. “I had so many things running through my mind. So many.”
While some might think it is second nature for these officers to perform CPR, they never expected it to be for one of their own.
“We had to start doing CPR on him,” Stout said. “Fortunately, our training kicked in, and we were able to just get right into it without any question.”
Their quick action, which likely saved Nelson’s life, was recognized on Wednesday when state Sen. Julia Kirt honored them with a citation. “
We heard about your amazing bravery, and we wanted to recognize you,” Kirt said. “I was just blown away by this story, and thank you for your work and being prepared and doing such an amazing duty for your colleague.”
Nelson spent the winter break in the ICU, but his colleagues say he is now on the mend.
A GoFundMe has been created to help with expenses.
“He’s doing a lot better. So, hopefully with everybody’s thoughts and prayers, we’ll get him back to work,” Mauck said.
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