An Indiana State Police trooper credited being able to drive his cruiser while off duty as a contributing factor that allowed him and his wife to save the life of an 87-year-old man Sunday afternoon in a Fort Wayne parking lot.
Trooper James Bailey and his wife, Amy, a registered nurse, had finished up a late meal at the Lucky Moose, a Dupont Crossing restaurant, and were driving away in his state police patrol car. A man flagged him down, telling him someone had collapsed near a pickup truck at the nearby Scott's grocery store.
Bailey's wife got out of the car and headed over to help the man, while Bailey radioed for help. When he parked his cruiser and went to the man's side, the trooper found no pulse or breathing. Bailey and his wife began CPR and continued until Fort Wayne Fire Department crews and TRAA paramedics arrived.
"Training just kicked in, for both my wife and I. I really didn't think about what was going on," Bailey said. "I just knew what had to be done."
Emergency crews were able to restore the man's pulse before they left the parking lot.
But 87-year-old Henry L. Yahn is not out of the woods yet. He remains in a medically induced coma at a Fort Wayne hospital, Bailey said.
Had he been in his personal car, no one would have known he could have helped, Bailey said.
"The fact that I was in my fully marked vehicle, and able to use it off duty, helped out a lot," Bailey said.
Bailey, a former reserve officer with the Noble County Sheriff's Department and an officer with the Indiana Department of Correction at a juvenile center, has had years of training in CPR.
"It's very easy to learn," he said.