Archive
Casino security/EMT rescues man down www.privateofficer.com
— On most nights when Richard Gibney is fulfilling his duties as an emergency medical technician at Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack, he is tending to scrapes, scratches and bruised knees.But two days after Christmas, the 23-year-old security guard found himself at the center of life-saving efforts for a customer who had collapsed at a slot machine. Without Gibney’s intervention and that of fellow security guard John Burgess, the 67-year-old Philadelphia resident would have died, according to his wife.
“Every doctor has told my husband that because of the quickness and hard work (of) your security guards, my husband is alive,” the woman recently wrote in an e-mail to Harrah’s officials.
She also credited paramedics from Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland with saving the life of her husband, who, she told Harrah’s officials, was scheduled for a triple bypass operation after his cardiac arrest at the casino.
Around 11 p.m. Dec. 27, Gibney was tending to an employee who had been burned by coffee when he was summoned via radio to the casino floor by security guard Lamar Johnson of Chester, who reported a man passing out at a slot machine. When Gibney arrived, Johnson was holding the man upright in his seat.
“He was taking ‘guppy breaths’ — the air was going into the stomach instead of his lungs. It’s the body trying to force itself to breathe, to jumpstart again after going into cardiac arrest,” said Gibney, who has been on staff at Harrah’s since last June.
Gibney grabbed the customer under the arms and placed him on the floor, then instructed Johnson to retrieve one of the automated external defibrillators that are kept on the casino floor.
“I could see he wasn’t properly breathing and had no pulse and I also noticed his chest wasn’t rising, it was his stomach,” said Gibney, who then radioed a security dispatcher to call 911 for an ambulance.
Burgess, who has been on Harrah’s security staff since July 2007, was in the midst of procuring a wheelchair for an employee he believes had thrown out her back when he saw Gibney on the floor with the customer.
“I got down with Rich and Rich asked for a knife. Rich and I cut the gentleman’s shirt open,” said the 54-year-old Chester resident.
Burgess then cleared the crowds away from the fallen customer and tended to the customer’s wife.
“I consoled her and calmed her down. I gave her a hug and we said a prayer together and I told her, ‘Everything is going to be OK,’” said Burgess.
With the help of beverage and slots Supervisor Mike Squilla, Gibney commenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the customer with Squilla administering rescue breaths as Gibney did chest compressions. When Johnson delivered the defibrillator, Gibney applied it to the customer’s chest.
The defibrillator administered one shock then instructed Gibney via automated command to resume cardiopulmonary resuscitation, just as five paramedics arrived in two ambulances.
“After the shock, he got a pulse back and his heart beat started to kick in,” said Gibney.
The paramedics intubated the customer so he could be assisted breathing manually via a mask-squeeze bag. Gibney helped them get the patient onto the stretcher and into the ambulance while Burgess accompanied the customer’s wife to the second ambulance.
Gibney, who also works as an emergency medical technician for the Marcus Hook-Trainer Fire Department and for National Events Services, went to check on the customer at Crozer-Chester Medical Center after completing his shift at about 9:30 a.m. Dec. 28.
“I know one medic from working on a 911 ambulance and he said the patient was in the intensive care unit and seemed to be doing a lot better,” said Gibney.
The customer’s wife returned to Harrah’s to extend her thanks to Gibney and Burgess around 3 p.m. Dec. 28. Gibney wasn’t returning to work until 7 p.m., but Burgess was back on duty.
“She gave me a tearful hug and was very gracious and assured us he was alive and coming along,” said Burgess.
Gibney, who has been volunteer firefighter for Primos-Secane-Westbrook Fire Co. in Upper Darby for seven years and an emergency medical technician for Darby Borough Fire Co. No. 1 for more than two years, realizes the outcome could have easily been fatal. The “bring back” rate in cardiac arrest episodes is only 0.18 percent, noted Gibney.
“It’s pretty crazy when you think of the statistic of 0.18 percent. It made me feel really good about myself to know I could have done that for him or his family,” said Gibney, who resides in the Secane section of Upper Darby.
Burgess, who has previously worked in real estate and as a school crossing guard, security officer and maintenance worker, applauded his young colleague’s life-saving performance.
“Rich, I thought he did a phenomenal job. He was relentlessly working on this patient. He never quit. I knew he was tired, but he just stayed at it,” said Burgess.
Gibney noted that Burgess’ role in caring for the customer’s wife, was equally important. In the 1970s, Burgess resuscitated a developmentally disabled client at the state-run New Lisbon Developmental Center in New Jersey, where he was also on staff.
Noted Burgess, “I think the greatest gift an individual can give is to attempt to save a life or help someone in distress.”
BE OUR FAN! FACEBOOK/privateofficer.com
BE A MEMBER! http://www.privateofficer.com
Sacramento teacher charged with lewd axts with teens www.privateofficer.com
FOX40.com – A teacher at Sierra Oaks Elementary School in Sacramento County has been arrested, accused of performing lewd acts on multiple children.
Investigators arrested 25-year-old instructor Shane Vicars shortly after 3:00pm Wednesday following allegations the teacher had inappropriate contact with minors.
Vicars was an after-school instructor for the Discovery Club at Sierra Oaks Elementary. According to San Juan Unified School District’s website, the Discovery Club is a before- and after-school child care program in which students receive tutoring on homework and create art projects. Vicars is listed as one of two instructors at the program.
According to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, Vicars has been arrested on 15 counts of lewd acts with a minor and 14 counts of child annoyance. Law enforcement authorities say the victims, who range in age from seven to eleven-years-old, were students at the school and the crime took place on-campus after school hours.
Vicars is currently being held on $1 million bail.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the allegations came to light in mid-December when a child came forward to a parent. Vicars was immediately placed on leave while the Sheriff’s Department investigated.
Vicars was hired by the San Juan Unified School district in 2003, and worked at Sierra Oaks School since 2008.
The district and investigators are encouraging parents to speak with their students as there may be additional victims who have not come forward.
Sierra Oaks parents who spoke with FOX40 on Wednesday expressed shock over the arrest, describing Vicars as affable, likeable, and good with kids.
BE A FAN! FACEBOOK/privateofficer.com
BE A MEMBER! http://www.privateofficer.com
Teacher charged with student rape www.privateofficer.com
Leah Gayle Shipman, 39, of 8764 Windingwood Trail, Leland, N.C., was charged with sexual offense with a student, statutory rape and taking indecent liberties with a student, according to a release from the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office.
Shipman is a transitional curriculum teacher at the Brunswick County Academy, according to the release. The victim in the case was 15 years old but no other information has been made available.
Detroit bound man arrested for threats on Jews www.privateofficer.com
Mansor Mohammad Asad, 43, of 1216 North Ontario St., was charged with disorderly conduct, threats against a public servant, and resisting arrest without violence following his arrest at a gate to which the Northwest Airlines flight 2485 returned after taxiing onto the airfield.
No terroristic activity was alleged, and a Miami FBI spokesman said the federal agency, after participating in the initial investigation, said the incident “was a local matter.”
The flight was allowed to resume its trip to Detroit after a security sweep that was conducted following Asad’s removal from the aircraft.
The Miami-Dade Police Department’s report stated that officers used a Taser on Asad twice to subdue him when he became “boisterous” after one of the officers had released one of his handcuffs to allow him to put his socks and shoes back on following a search at the airport. A body search of Asad had turned up no weapons or potential explosive materials.
Police responded to the airport after the Northwest pilot reported plans to return to the terminal because of a passenger who was loud and disruptive, making anti-Semitic statements such as, “I’m Palestinian and I want to kill all the Jews.”
Several witnesses police interviewed said the man also spoke in a foreign language, believed to be Arabic.
Mike Asad, the suspect’s brother, said Thursday morning that he was shocked to learn about the disturbance in Miami.
He said he was unsure was set his brother off in Miami. He said his brother has a history of behavioral problems and has been in and out of hospitals since he was 14.
Mike Asad said his brother was vacationing in Miami with his sister and his teenage daughter when the incident occured. The three were on the plane together and his family members were questioned but not taken into custody, Mike Asad said.
Mansor Asad is a Woodward High School graduate.
The Asad family has owned and operated the Appliance Connection in North Toledo on Lagrange Street for 21 years.
Asad has convictions for felony and misdemeanor offenses in Toledo and Lucas County courts.
He was arrested in October, 2008, after police responded to a complaint about Asad’s “pit bull” dogs allegedly charging residents in a Toledo neighborhood.
According to court documents, police said Asad reportedly yelled to his daughter: “The cops are our enemies and they’re going to kill you and the dogs” when officers arrived.
He was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct and obstructing official business.
A plea agreement reached in the case resulted in Asad pleading no contest to obstructing official business in Toledo Municipal Court. He was found guilty and fined $150.
Asad was indicted in 1999 on two counts of felony assault on a police officer. He initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the offenses.
He changed his plea to no contest in Lucas County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced to probation in 2000.
In Miami, before taking Asad to a holding facility to be interviewed, officers searched him on the jet bridge linking the aircraft with the terminal. It was there, police said, that Asad made racial and threatening comments toward officers and charged one of them, prompting another to fire his Taser at the subject’s back.
“I’m not afraid of you cops, I’ve gotten in fights with cops in Ohio and broken their arms in three places. I’ve broken skulls, too!” Asad is alleged to have said during the search, before he began praying and chanting in “a foreign language mixed with English,” the report stated.
While the initial Taser shot stopped Asad’s charge, he refused an order to place his arms behind his back, and only after the officer fired another Taser shot did he comply with commands and submit to being handcuffed.
Special Agent Judy Orihuela, a spokesman for the FBI’s Miami office, said that while disrupting an airliner is a federal offense, Asad caused no physical disturbance until after police took him into custody, and his comments were not considered sufficient to warrant federal charges or further FBI involvement in the case.
BE OUR FAN! FACEBOOK/privateofficer.com
BE A MEMBER! http://www.privateofficer.com
Students shot at Phoenix school www.privateofficer.com
The two 19-year-old victims suffered “non-life-threatening injuries” and were taken to an area hospital, said Officer Luis Samudio, a Phoenix police spokesman.
The 10-year-old was also grazed by a pellet discharged by the shotgun about 2:45 p.m. at the school near 25th Street and Bell Road, Samudio said.
A 16-year-old former student at the high school was arrested minutes later at his nearby home in connection with the shootings, Samudio said.
Both victims reportedly knew the suspected shooter. Police also credit witness accounts with the arrest.
Nearly 60 students are enrolled in grades nine through 12 at the charter school.
The school focuses on students learning English and prepares them for college or vocational schools. It opened in August of 2005.
Security officer’s observation leads to drug arrest www.privateofficer.com
Source: Salina.com A security guard’s observation of a suspicious vehicle led members of the I-135/I-70 Drug Task Force to two active methamphetamine labs in Salina Tuesday.
Two Salina men were arrested in connection with the labs — one in a house and a portable lab in a pickup truck, Lt. Jim Norton, task force commander, said.
Saline County Sheriff’s deputies were called about 10 p.m. when an unauthorized pickup truck was observed pulling into a parking lot in the 1200 block of West Diamond Drive on the edge of Salina, Norton said.
When deputies arrived, no one was around the pickup. What appeared to be canisters of anhydrous ammonia, a farm chemical that is used in the manufacture of meth, were observed in the back of the truck, Norton said.
The task force was called, and after a search warrant was procured, task force members found an active meth lab inside the truck, Norton said. The ammonia was in illegally altered containers, and other meth making materials were found in the truck. Norton said chemical reactions were taking place that are part of the process of producing meth.
The investigation of the truck lab led task force members to a duplex at 311 E. Claflin, where a second active meth lab was found, Norton said. Officers also found a small amount of finished meth and a large amount of drug-making and drug-using paraphernalia, Norton said.
Rodgers, who owned the truck, was arrested on charges of manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, possession of anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container and falsely reporting a crime. Rodgers had reported his truck stolen after the vehicle was located, Norton said.
The 2002 Ford F250 crew cab truck has been seized, Norton said.
Zugg was arrested in connection with the lab in the duplex. He was arrested on charges of manufacture of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia, possession of anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container, possession of meth and distribution of meth.
More arrests are possible, Norton said.
He said the task force dismantled two drug labs in Salina in all of 2009.
“This year we’ve had two in the first week,” he said. “That’s not a good sign.”
BE A FAN! FACEBOOK/privateofficer.com
BE A MEMBER! http://www.privateofficer.com
