Trish Bennett, Editor
CIRCLEVILLE – Whenever law enforcement officers put on the uniform, they know they may be faced with matters of life or death. For three Pickaway County Sheriff deputies, the choice was life.
Lt. Cory Bachnicki, Corporal Erick Eberhard and Deputy Ed Moore were honored with a Lifesaver Award on Thursday at the sheriff’s office. Nominated by their counterparts in emergency services, each officer was recognized for their actions at emergency scenes to help victims in dire need.
That scene for Moore occurred June 2, 2014, when he was faced with the victim of a drug overdose. As the first responder, Moore administered CPR to the 30-year-old female for five to 10 minutes until she regained a pulse and EMTs arrived.
Moore was nominated for Thursday’s honor by Wayne Miller and Debbie Shaw of the Sterling Joint Ambulance District.
Moore said when he arrived at the residence, the victim had turned grayish-blue and her lips were purple. A male was already attempting to administer CPR, but it wasn’t working.
“I just knew she was in distress, and he was trying to give her CPR but wasn’t doing it right,” Moore said. “I got him out of the way and started doing it myself.”
The victim survived, and Moore said he told her afterward he hoped she used the experience as a second chance to turn her life around.
“Hopefully she listened,” he said.
For Bachnicki and Eberhard, the scene was a car accident on Dec. 14, 2014, when the driver went into sudden cardiac arrest. Bystanders had the victim out of the car when Eberhard arrived and took over CPR, which he maintained until Bachnicki arrived on the scene and continued until the victim was loaded into the ambulance.
Sheriff Robert Radcliff said that victim did pass away several days later from other complications, but their lifesaving actions gave her a fighting chance.
Bachnicki and Eberhard were nominated for Thursday’s honor by Mark Agin of the Pickaway Township Fire Department.
The award is the second Lifesaver Award for Bachnicki.
A third deputy, an undercover detective, also will be honored for his actions at the scene that were unrelated to the cardiac victim, Radcliff said.
All three deputies said they really don’t consider themselves heroes and were just doing what they are trained to do.
“You don’t really think about it, you just do it,” Eberhard said.
Radcliff said it was an honor for him to recognize his deputies for going the extra mile to make a difference.
“It makes me very proud to call myself the sheriff when I’ve got people like this who work for me,” Radcliff said.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
