Police Resuscitate Teacher, Board Recognizes Officers

While South End teacher Lara Bottner attended Cedar Grove High School's performance of Beauty and the Beast in February, she became ill and went into cardiac arrest in front of friends, students and other staff members.

Guests had mostly already filed into the Cedar Grove High School auditorium on Feb. 21 to see high school students perform when the third-grade teacher, collapsed, fell down a flight of stairs and went into cardiac arrest.

“Officers were there in a matter of minutes and found her unconscious and bleeding from a head wound,” said Cedar Grove Police Chief Richard Vanderstreet. “When the officers attended to her she stopped breathing and lost her pulse.”

Patrolmen Joseph Russomanno and Jason Rivers started CPR and attached an AED defibrilator, said Vanderstreet.

“The AED shocked Bottner at which point she started to breath and her pulse returned,” said Vanderstreet. Members of the Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad then transported her to St. Joseph Medical Center in Paterson.

Tuesday night, the Cedar Grove Board of Education honored those involved in resuscitating Bottner and awarded the first responders ―with Bottner in attendance.

“Time was of the essence and a miracle was performed that night by our town ambulance squad and police department,” said Cedar Grove Board of Education President Frank Mandala.

South End Elementary School Principal Brian Cavanagh read a letter written by Bottner's mother, Ellen Bottner, of North Carolina.

“If not for the immediate attention of the police officers on scene who administered CPR and the emergency service personnel who brought her back to life, my 30-year old daughter would not have survived,” read Cavanagh. “They saved my daughter’s life and gave her the opportunity to live life to the fullest.”

"She is in the process of making a full and complete recovery which would not have been possible without their intervention," she said.

No one could ever put a monetary figure on a life, Ellen Bottner added.

Bottner’s best friend, Kelly Battista, a kindergarten teacher in the district handed over a donation to both the Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad and Cedar Grove Police Department at the meeting, on behalf of Ellen Bottner.

“I feel like I am so loved,” said Lara Bottner. “It's great to see us all come together as a family.”

Awards were presented to:

Cedar Grove Police

• Lt. Erik Hansson
• Sgt. Edward Conlon
• Ptl. Joseph Russomanno
• Ptl. Jason Rivers
• Ptl. Raymond Caddella

Cedar Grove Ambulance and Rescue Squad

• Sandy Huber
• Paul Karaisaridis
• Kevin Labagnara
• Randy Stauss