Officer Saves Two Lives with CPR in One Day

Officer Rodolfo Figueroa accomplished something his police chief had never seen in 20 years: he saved two lives with CPR in a single shift.

On November 17, Figueroa responded to a 6:36 a.m. call about an unresponsive woman at a Sonora, California home. Within three minutes, he was performing chest compressions on a patient with no pulse and no breathing. She started breathing again before paramedics arrived and ultimately survived.

Just seven hours later, Figueroa got another call about a man down in a shopping center parking lot. He took over CPR from a bystander and continued compressions until medical teams took over. That patient survived too.

The statistics make Figueroa's double save even more remarkable. About 90% of people who experience cardiac arrest outside a hospital don't survive. The success rate for first responder CPR is only 9%.

"Not once in my 20-plus years in law enforcement have I saved someone's life by administering CPR," said Police Chief Turu VanderWiel. "It's a rare occasion."

The Sonora City Council honored Figueroa with the department's Lifesaving Award at a Monday night meeting. He was promoted to corporal the same evening.

Lt. Jennifer Hannula received the same award for her work on August 19, when she talked a man back from attempting to hang himself off a highway overpass. The 45-year-old had tied a rope around his neck and stood on the edge of the bridge for 31 minutes.

Hannula, a trained crisis negotiator, maintained constant dialogue with the man as his behavior shifted between cooperation and movements toward self-harm. Highway 108 was shut down as she worked. With help from a sheriff's sergeant, she eventually convinced him to climb back over the wall to safety.

"We were all pretty certain it was going to go the other way," VanderWiel said.

Why This Inspires

These saves represent countless hours of training that officers hope they'll never need to use. When CPR works only 9% of the time, most officers never see a successful save in their entire career. Figueroa got two in one day because he showed up fast, remembered his training, and didn't give up.

Hannula's patient negotiation shows the power of simply staying present with someone in crisis. Thirty-one minutes of conversation became the difference between tragedy and treatment.

Mayor Ann Segerstrom summed up the council's sentiment simply: "We consider them heroes."

Three families have their loved ones because two officers did their jobs exceptionally well on two very difficult days.