Policeman in serious condition
Feb. 13, 2007 link

FORT WORTH -- The first period was competitive hockey -- firefighters and police officers shoving and bumping on the rink at Fort Worth Ice.

The game Saturday ended, however, with the officers hugging their opponents.

Early in the second period, firefighters leaped from their bench and performed CPR on a Fort Worth police officer who had a heart attack while playing in the charity hockey match Saturday.

The event drew several hundred people and raised $4,000 for the family of officer Dwayne Freeto, who was killed on duty in December.

On Monday, the officer who had the heart attack was in serious condition at Harris Methodist Fort Worth, a hospital official said.

A police official said privacy laws prevented him from identifying the officer.

"Those firefighters saved his life," said Sgt. Kevin Foster, who was watching the match.

Police were leading the firefighters 2-1 when the officer fell face first, fire Capt. Joe Short said.

"It wasn't a slip," Short said. "You could tell something was wrong."

Firefighters scaled the wall in front of their bench and "swarmed" the officer, said Debbie Papenfuss, an organizer of the match.

The officer was breathing irregularly: deep, shallow, deep, Short said.

Then he stopped.

Short gave the officer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while other firefighters rotated chest compressions, he said. A fire truck arrived with an automated external defibrillator.

In their rubber boots, those firefighters had trouble getting across the ice. So the firefighters wearing skates got the defibrillator and restarted the officer's heart.

The officer was taken to the hospital, and the match was called. Officers and firefighters knelt together in prayer.

The firefighters just did as they were trained, Short said.

"It's a little different with all those people and the mayor, fire chief and police chief watching you," he said. "But we're glad we were there and hope he's OK."