Clayton News Daily

By Kathy Jefcoats

kjefcoats@news-daily.com

FOREST PARK — A Forest Park police officer will be honored with the department's Lifesaving Award for using CPR to get a man breathing on his own inside a convenience store, said officials.

Maj. Chris Matson said Master Patrol Officer Christopher Simmons was approached Feb. 26 about 3 a.m. by a motorist on her way to take her adult son to the hospital for treatment. Matson said the man, 41, was unconscious and unresponsive when Simmons and the man's parents brought him inside the BP Connect store on Old Dixie Road in Forest Park.

The lifesaving measure was caught on the store's videotape, said Matson.

Matson said Simmons was inside the store when he was approached by the woman. Simmons followed her to her vehicle and found him slumped over the center console. He called for an ambulance and removed the man from the car.

However, because of inclement weather, the man had to be taken inside the store, said Matson. Simmons began CPR and the man began breathing on his own before paramedics arrived. The man was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center for treatment of an unspecified condition.

"Had it not been for MPO Simmons training and quick response, the outcome of this situation could have been disastrous," said Matson.

Simmons will be given the department's “Lifesaving Award."