Norwood Cop Saves 61-Year-Old Man's Life

NORWOOD, MA — A police officer is being lauded as a hero after saving a man's life, after the man fell and had been on the ground for 12 hours in sub-freezing temperatures.

It was nearly 3:30 a.m., last Wednesday. Police said Officer Paul Zorzi was in the middle of his routine patrol near Extra Storage Space on Washington Street. The routine check all of sudden became anything but. Zorzi found a 61-year-old man lying on the ground.

"We know the man, we run into him from time to time, but not usually at 3:30 in the morning," police said in a statement.

Zorzi approached the man and learned he had fallen at 3 p.m. the previous afternoon and couldn't get up. Twelve hour later, it was only 12 degrees outside. Zori called for an ambulance, which brought the man to Norwood Hospital, where police said he received "excellent medical care."

"We can only speculate how much longer that man would have survived in 12 degree weather had a cop from the midnight shift, riding alone at 3:30 in the morning, performing those routine duties not happened upon him," police said.