Austin Officers To Be Honored For Life-Saving Work

AUSTIN, TX — A pair of Austin police officers will be honored by their peers for having saved a man who had collapsed on a city street late last year.

On Nov. 8, 2018, at around 9 a.m., Austin Police Department officers Christopher Bartsch and Carson Conwell were on their patrol motorcycles along the 900 block of Barton Springs Road when they came upon a man lying on the sidewalk. The officers pulled over to assess the situation and learned that the man had collapsed just before their arrival.

Bartsch called for emergency medical services while Conwell attempted to wake the man by calling to him, shaking him and performing a sternum rub to revive him. When these efforts proved unsuccessful, officers checked, but found no obstruction to the man’s airway. Bartsch and a citizen named Lisa Byrom checked the male for a pulse but found none. At that point, the officers cut the backpack off the man’s body so they could begin CPR.

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Bartsch, Conwell and Byrom rotated through performing chest compressions, police said. Austin-Travis County EMS medics arrived on scene and began to administer medicine while medics had the officers and Byrom continue chest compressions. Once on scene, Austin Fire Department personnel took over compressions until the man could be transported to a local hospital where he stayed for about a week to receive treatment.

Bartsch, Conwell and Byrom performed CPR on the man for over seven minutes, and will be honored at this year’s Austin Police Department Stars of Distinction Awards Gala as a result of their life-saving work. The officers will receive a lifesaving award while Byrom will be presented with a certificate of recognition.

The three award recipients recently reunited at the site of the incident. The Austin Police Department provided photos of the gathering, as seen below.

Photos courtesy of the Austin Police Department.

The 2019 Stars of Distinction Awards Gala will take place on Nov. 16 at the Hilton Austin Downtown, 500 E. 4th St.