The 70-year-old Wharton resident was found unresponsive in a Jeep last month.
WHARTON -- An off-duty police chief helped avert a possible accident last month when he blocked a car with an unresponsive driver inside with his own car, cops said.
Police were called to West Dewey Avenue on March 18 at about 1 p.m. after a report came in of an unresponsive man in a vehicle, Wharton police said in a news release.
Before an officer arrived at the scene, off-duty Demarest police Chief James Powderley had seen the gray 2014 Jeep in the roadway and returned to see if the driver needed help. Powderley noticed that the driver was unresponsive and the Jeep was still in gear with the unresponsive driver's foot on the brake. Powderly then moved his vehicle in front of the unresponsive man's Jeep, to stop it from possibly traveling onto oncoming traffic, police said.
When an officer arrived he found Powderly trying to enter the vehicle. The officer broke the passenger side window and found the driver unresponsive and not breathing. The driver was removed from the car and Powderly and the chief then worked together to give CPR and administer a defibrillator.
An ambulance arrived and transported the driver to Saint Clare's Hospital. The man was later identified as a 70-year-old borough resident, whose name was not released.
Police say the driver survived the accident and is improving.
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