A man armed with a butcher knife. A driver blue in the face from a heroin overdose. In both cases, Countryside police officers were the difference between life and death.
Officers Kelly Kalker, Ryan Jakubowski and Kevin Cerny were recognized by the city Wednesday, April 9, for their heroic actions in two recent emergencies — one involving a foot chase and the other a lifesaving rescue with CPR and Narcan.
Police Chief Paul Kilmek presented each with honorable mention and life savings awards during the city council meeting.
“Thank you for doing a great job,” Klimek told the trio as aldermen and city officials applauded.
While the three officers have a combined 39 years working for the department, this is the first time they’ve teamed up on those two situations.
On the afternoon of March 8, the three were called to the parking lot of a strip mall in the 6500 block of Joliet Road.
“We got a call of a fight in a parking lot,” Kalker said.
Seeing no fight, they asked themselves, “Okay, who’s fighting? Who are we talking about?” Kalker said.
That was answered soon enough.
They spotted a man standing in the parking lot. He was on his phone and holding a butcher knife.
When the man saw the officers, he ran west across Willow Springs Road, through the parking lot of Tony’s Fresh Market and around the west side of that building, Kalker said.
The man was apprehended when he was unable to scale the chain link fence behind the store’s parking lot and bordering Flagg Creek Golf Course, she said.
“He couldn’t scale the fence. There were too many bushes. He couldn’t get over that,” Kalker said.
The man has been charged with battery, criminal damage to property and resisting arrest, Cerny said.
Two weeks later, on March 22, they responded to the report of a vehicle that hit a fence in the 7000 block of Willow Springs Road, across from Soehrman Park.
When they arrived, they found the driver unresponsive and slumped behind the steering wheel, Cerny said.
A passenger who had been in the rented moving van told them her boyfriend had overdosed on heroin, Kalker said.
The officers were able to open the door and administer seven doses of Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal medication that blocks the effects of heroin on the brain and restores breathing.
They also gave the man CPR with the assistance of his girlfriend, Kalker said.
Had they not arrived in time, the officers think the man probably would have died.
“He was blue. His lips had turned blue. The chest compressions (given during CPR) pushed the Narcan through his body,” Kalker said.
The results were rewarding, they said.
“It makes you feel good to save somebody’s life,” Jakubowski said.
A bystander had called police because they saw the man’s girlfriend outside the vehicle screaming and banging on the windows.
“She was in the back of the truck with the dogs (when the crash happened). She was locked back there. She had to jimmy the door open (to get out),” Cerny said.
The driver has been charged with aggravated DUI, aggravated driving on a revoked license, leaving the roadway and driving without insurance, Cerny said.
Cerny, 34, has been with the department for six years. Jakubowski, 35, has been with the department for 13 years. Kalker, 47, has been with the department for 20 years.
During the city council meeting, Mayor Sean McDermott thanked the three for their service.