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A school event quickly became a matter of life and death for a police officer.
A Cleveland woman saved a policeman from having an allergic reaction after being stung by a bee.
Sgt. Ray O’Connor was playing football at his son’s back-to-school night when he was stung by a bee on both of his wrists.
Cleveland 19 reported:
On Aug. 20, Sgt. Ray O’Connor was playing football with kids during a back-to-school festival at the Friendly Inn on Cleveland’s East Side when he was stung.
Before falling to the ground, Sgt. O’Connor told his partner, Officer Brooklyn Barnes, what happened and also told her he was deathly allergic to bees but had forgotten his Epi-Pen at the 4th District.
Officer Barnes and a 3rd District officer dragged/carried Sgt. Connor to a police cruiser while rendering first aid.
No one knew that O’Connor was deathly allergic to bee stings, so he quickly told his partner he was.
He left his life-saving EpiPen back at the police station.
Tomika Johnson was also there with her son, and she quickly knew exactly what to do.
Her son had an EpiPen as well, but it was at home. She ran to her home, which was just right across the street, and got her son’s EpiPen, and the officers administered first aid to O’Connor.
Doctors credit Ms. Johnson with saving O’Connor’s life by quickly getting an EpiPen to his aid.
“I don’t even know who I gave the Epi-Pen to that was tending to the officer, Sergeant O’Connor. But I kept yelling, ‘Hit him in the hip! Hit him in the hip!’” Johnson told WKYC.
“Ms. Johnson’s quick thinking, fast response, and concern for this officer’s well-being demonstrated a high regard for human life,” the Cleveland Police Fourth District said in a social media post on Wednesday.
O’Connor was able to meet the woman that saved his life. The officers also realized Johnson’s son, Zaire, had a birthday coming up soon, so they threw a small birthday party for him and gave him presents and a gift card.
“Ms. Johnson and Zaire will be recognized at the City of Cleveland’s Fourth District Awards Ceremony on October 6, 2022 and will receive the city’s ‘Citizen Award’. The above story proves that with the help of the community, lives can be saved. As the card said, Zaire and Ms. Johnson are our heroes,” the district’s post concluded.
