Cops Save Tourist Who Collapsed in Downtown Chicago

After a Georgia tourist fell to the ground on Michigan Avenue Tuesday afternoon, people on the street waved down two Chicago Police officers who saved his life.

The cops were on bike patrol at about 2:20 p.m. near Michigan Avenue and Walton Street, according to a statement from Chicago Police News Affairs, when they found the 75-year-old tourist “drained of color” and not breathing. Seeing his throat was blocked, they cleared his airway and performed chest compressions.

The Columbus, GA, man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The officers — Sergio Valdez and Michael Lawrence — later were told he “had a life-threatening medical emergency.”

“He was pale, he was laying on the ground, you could tell he was unconscious,” Valdez told the Chicago Tribune Wednesday. “We checked for vital signs, he had no vital signs. So my impression is we gotta help this man. If we can help him out and bring him back, we’re going to bring him back.”

Valdez and Lawrence are 13 and 11-year veterans of the department, respectively.

“We were just in the right place at the right time,” Lawrence told the Tribune. “The heroes are honestly the medical staff at the hospital who stabilized him and the paramedics on the scene. We just played a small part.”