Officer now stable after collapsing in scuffle with suspect
A Philadelphia police officer suffered an apparent heart attack during a scuffle with a suspect in the city’s Olney section overnight.
A 31-year-old Philadelphia police officer collapsed into unconsciousness during a scuffle with a suspect in the city's Olney section overnight. The officer was found still clutching the suspect and in apparent cardiac arrest.
The officer originally was listed as in critical condition and has since been updgraded top stable condition.
The Northwest Detective Division said the incident occurred about 12:45 a.m. on North 7th Street. The 35th District officer was said to have chased, and then struggled with, the suspect before falling unconscious.
Other responding officers then found the officer still clutching the suspect. The officers rushed to help the fallen commrade, being identified as Officer Michael Gwynn, 31, and a father of two.
"I really want to applaud officers in the 35th District that performed CPR," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said at an impromptu news conference at Einstein Medical Center where the officer was taken. "They literally saved his life."
Ramsey said there was a time when the officer's heart did stop. After performing CPR, the officers put Gwynn in a radio car and rushed him to Einstein, where he was listed as in critical condition.
The suspect, a 34-year-old male, was taken to Temple University Hospital for treatment of minor cuts and bruises, police said.
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