A Pembroke Pines Police motorman killed in a motorcycle crash was once credited with saving a man’s life nearly 14 years ago.
Officer Charles Herring, a 22-year veteran of the department, was killed Thursday when a piece of debris fell from a tree and struck him, causing him to fall from his motorcycle.
Herring is the first officer to die in the line of duty in Pembroke Pines history.
The Pembroke Pones Police Department remember a motorcycle officer who was killed in a crash. NBC 6’s Niko Clemmons reports
“We lost a hero today,” Pembroke Pines Police Chief Kipp Shimpeno said Thursday night.
Herring’s heroic efforts were on full display on March 17, 2009, when a man suffered a massive heart attack at a courthouse.
The man, Richard Johnantonio, had collapsed and stopped breathing when Herring rushed to his side, called 911 and began CPR.
Surveillance footage showed Herring quickly going into action.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and a respiratory therapist who happened to be there also jumped in to help Johnantonio.
Days after his life was saved, Johnantonio met Herring and the other people who saved his life at a news conference at Memorial Regional Hospital.
That’s where Johnantonio learned Herring was the first person to come to his aid.
“That was me, I was the lucky one,” Herring told him.
“No, I was the lucky one,” Johnantonio replied.
Johnantonio received a triple-bypass, but doctors said Herring and the other rescuers’ actions saved him.
“He was a textbook recovery, it would be impossible to train a large system any better than to take somebody who was arrested and clinically dead in the field, have them recover in the field, transport, get immediate cardiac care, come to surgery within about 24 hours and then be able to walk out of the hospital completely intact within about a week,” Dr. Gary Allen said.
Broward County Police Benevolent Association
Herring, a husband and father, leaves behind four children.
A candlelight vigil will be held for Herring at 7 p.m. Friday in front of the police department.
The Broward County Police Benevolent Association has also established an Officer Charles Herring memorial fund.