Farmington Hills police save man's life after medical emergency, crash

It was a scene you would think was taken straight out of a movie. 

Three Farmington Hills police officers rescued a motorist who had just crashed his car into a pole near Orchard Lake and I-696 Monday morning, having done so after suffering a medical emergency while driving. 

Once the officers had him out of the car, they did everything they could to keep him alive until paramedics made it to the scene.

Officers Lindsey South and Nick West, both of the Farmington Hills Police Department, were the first at the scene. 

"We both came up and it appeared that he was turning blue," South said.

"The vehicle was locked and the tires were still spinning,” West said. “The car was still in drive, so I broke the passenger side window with my baton.” 

Officers West and South know how to follow directions and credit their training for helping them make fast decisions.

 The victim, a 40-year-old man on his way to work, was in the midst of a medical emergency.

"We pulled him out,” South said. “(We) realized he didn't have a pulse so we started CPR.” 

Another officer, Brian Rohrer, arrived and helped attach the automated external defibrillator.

They shocked the patient with the device and then came good news.

"I realized that he was breathing,” South said. “I could hear him breathing so I opened his airway cleared his airway and just monitored him until the fire department got there.”

Farmington Hills police say the man is doing much better tonight and expected to make a full recovery.