Quick-thinking Waxhaw police officers help save diabetic driver

WAXHAW, N.C. — Waxhaw officers acted fast to save a man's life last week when he was spotted swerving all over the road.

At first, they thought the driver was drunk, but soon realized he was having a medical emergency.

[ALSO READ: Coast Guard rescues woman in diabetic shock from cruise ship]

The car was swerving all over the road, heading into a crowded area in downtown Waxhaw last Tuesday. The car was spotted by a driver who then called 911. That driver followed the swerving vehicle, helping those responding officers.

“You kinda get the hair standing up on the back of your neck,” Waxhaw Police Officer Bobby West said.

“When I saw him swerving the first thing you think of is ‘drunk’,” Officer Kevin Gasser said.

Four officers responded and once they got the driver to pull over they realized something was off.

“He didn’t know where he was,” Officer Victor Montalvo said.

“He looked at me he had this thousand-yard stare. I didn’t smell any alcohol,” Gasser said.

They asked if the driver was diabetic. When the driver said ‘yes,' they said they immediately called EMS.

“We couldn’t even believe he was standing up with a blood sugar that low,” Gasser said.

After being treated by EMS, the driver didn’t want to go to the hospital so an officer took him across the street to 4th Corner Bakehouse and Coffee Co. to help with his blood sugar.

“They gave him a really big awesome chocolate chip cookie,” Montalvo said.

“If a chocolate chip cookie is going to make somebody’s day and help them get home, I’m more than happy to give it up,” Ben Kallenbach of 4th Corner Bakehouse and Coffee Co said.

Officers said they credit recognizing symptoms of a medical emergency to training.

“Throughout that training, they touch on diabetic emergencies, heart conditions,” Lt. Zill said.

They also credit experience -- the responding officers are all former officers from the New York Police Department.

“We have almost 100 years of experience on that one particular call,” Zill said.

“Could have definitely gone a different way,” Montalvo said. “That’s why we love doing what we do."

Cox Media Group