Police

Off-duty cop helps save local man’s life

SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE COURTESY PHOTO | Pictured from left to right are Sixth Precinct Officer Anthony Passarella, Sixth Precinct Officer Frank Ribaudo, Emergency Service Section Officer Lance Prager of Mattituck and Bruno Kaluzinski of Wading River.

An off-duty police officer from Mattituck on his way home from Advanced Life Support training, saved the life of an 86-year-old Wading River man on Friday, police said.

Lance Prager, an Emergency Services section officer with the Suffolk County Police Department, witnessed the man suffering cardiac arrest at the Agway store in Port Jefferson, when police say he sprung to action.

Mr. Prager asked an employee of the store to retrieve his medical bag from his car as he performed CPR on the man, who according to police had no pulse or respiration.

Soon after, Sixth Precinct patrol officers Anthony Passarella and Frank Ribaudo arrived on the scene and started doing compressions and helped administer a shock with a defibrillator, police said.

The victim then started breathing on his own and was taken by Port Jefferson Volunteer Ambulance to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. He is currently in the critical care unit in stable condition, police said.

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