Riverhead heroes honored for life-saving team effort

Riverhead Town honored a good Samaritan and several local first responders — including Councilman Kenneth Rothwell’s son — for swiftly aiding an individual who suffered a cardiac event while on a bike path in Calverton.

Thomas Downey of Wading River was driving passed the bike path on March 11 when he saw the individual collapse. He got out of his car to find the person unconscious and not breathing, and began to administer CPR.

When he arrived at the scene, Riverhead Town police officer Brandon Williams continued to perform CPR and briefly regained a pulse. Right before emergency responders from the Wading River Fire Department got there, the patient went back into cardiac arrest and police officer Kiernan Fitzgerald started CPR again.

Paramedic Dan Manzella set up a manual defibrillator with a cardiac monitor, while EMT Cameron Rothwell administered oxygen to the patient. Together, the patient was shocked once, sent back into a normal rhythm and regained consciousness before being put into an ambulance driven by Chief Keith Ryan.

Fire chief Denise Gluck hooked the patient up to an IV while the two other paramedics obtained a 12-lead follow-up electrocardiogram. The team worked on getting the patient’s vitals and medical information sent in advance to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where the individual was transported.

After further medical treatment, the patient made a full recovery, Councilman Rothwell said.

“I will tell you that I have had the personal opportunity to speak to his family members, and they are incredibly, extremely grateful for everyone who participated that day in the efforts that saved their son’s life,” Councilman Rothwell said. “I cannot speak more enough about what you do every day and how you do it — [I’m] also an extremely proud father as well.”

“It is great to know that you are there every day, protecting us and ready to respond in any day, any hour, any moment,” the councilman continued.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard and his fellow town board members presented official proclamations at a meeting on April 1 to Mr. Downey and the other first responders for their life-saving team efforts.

“This was an absolute alignment of the stars, and I’m not talking just about the stars that are standing up here before you,” Mr. Hubbard said. “This is an incredible, incredible story — we can’t thank you enough for all that you do for our community, and we are extremely proud to have you as members of our Riverhead Police Department, Wading River Fire Department and Wading River Ambulance.”