Former New Castle Cop Saves Motorist’s Life on Busy Highway
It had been less than two weeks since Chad Golanec moved into the ranks of retired police officers but that didn’t prevent him from saving someone’s life last Wednesday on the Cross Westchester Expressway.
The former New Castle police officer, who retired from the department on June 30, rushed to the aid of another motorist who was stricken with an apparent heart attack on July 11 after he saw the vehicle veer from the right lane, hit the Jersey barrier on the left side of the parkway and come back across the four-lane highway before hitting the right guardrail on I-287.
The car, a 2013 Audi driven by 49-year-old Alan Merend of Peekskill, came to a rest in the right shoulder in the vicinity of Exit 5 at 12:21 p.m., according to state police.
Golanec said he was traveling westbound on the highway about four or five car lengths behind Merend when he noticed the out-of-control car. He immediately put his hazard lights on, which signaled to drivers behind him to slow down.
“While all that was going on, in my mind because of (my) experience and being in the police business, I realized that there was no way the person could have been conscious because there was no corrective action being taken while the vehicle was out of control,” said Golanec, who was on his way home from a doctor’s appointment in White Plains at the time.
Golanec, a Cortlandt resident who spent 16 of his 21 years in law enforcement in New Castle, pulled up behind Merend’s car, jumped out and saw that he was unconscious behind the wheel. He called 911 and began administering CPR. Golanec remarked that the stricken motorist’s color wasn’t good and his heartbeat and pulse were rapid before disappearing. He pulled Merend out from behind the steering wheel and placed him on the pavement behind the car when he noticed Merend appeared to have had a pacemaker implanted.
“That first set of compressions, I did like 30 compressions, I would say,” Golanec said. “I heard and saw he was like gasping and then I just continued to do compressions until the Greenburgh police paramedics came.”
While Golanec was tending to the stricken motorist, a woman had also pulled over asking what she could do. He instructed her to once again call 911 to provide first-responders with updates.
Once the paramedics arrived, they took over first aid before transporting Merend to Westchester Medical Center, police said. As of Saturday, he was still hospitalized. His condition was unknown, police said.
Golanec, who will spend time at home this summer with his young son before deciding on his next career move, said that during his law enforcement career he was called on many times to perform CPR and had also delivered a baby but this was the first time he was at the scene when someone had a medical emergency.
But he doesn’t think of himself as a hero, just someone who was able to put his years of training and experience to good use to help a fellow citizen.
“I’m glad I was at the right place at the right time with the right training and I would hope that anyone in my situation with the training that I had would do the same thing,” Golanec said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/