KEARNY –
At 6:50 a.m. last Thursday, Jan. 26, Kearny police received a 911 call reporting a body on the sidewalk on Kearny Ave. near Boyd St.
As police and EMS were heading for the scene, KPD Officer Richard Poplaski, in the area in his own car en route to a traffic detail, heard the radio call, arrived first at the scene and immediately began CPR on the unconscious male.
Poplaski was soon joined by Police Chief John Dowie, who assisted in the efforts to revive the victim.
Other officers, Kearny EMS and the ALS (Advanced Life Support Unit) also responded, and the man was taken to St. Michael’s Medical Center, Newark, “for additional life-saving efforts,” police said.
Unfortunately, word eventually arrived that the 71-year-old Kearny resident had expired.
As of press time, the exact cause of death had not been revealed, but authorities said it appeared to be from natural causes. [Editor’s note: As opposed to local rumor-mongers’ irresponsible reports of it being “a murder.”]
The good citizen who had made the 911 call was apparently not the first person to see the victim. Police said the caller had been in the nearby QuickChek when a customer arrived and announced, “There’s a body laying down the street. I don’t want to get involved. Somebody should call.”
Luckily, the good-citizen somebody did, went to the scene and remained with the victim until authorities arrived.
It is not known how long the stricken man had lain there — or if other passers-by might have ignored him.
As Dowie noted, “In situations like this, minutes and seconds count.”
