After a Lifesaving Award, the Real Reward for Pa. Officer

Dec. 24--Exeter Township Police Officer Craig Downs recently received a lifesaver award from the department for saving the life of a 3-year-old boy who was accidentally run over by his father's lawn tractor in May.

But he said the real reward came just a week before Christmas when he saw the boy, Zachary Strunk, walk into the police station and give him a big hug.

"Buddy, I'm so glad you're doing good," said Downs, a 10-year veteran of the Exeter police. "I'm just so happy to see him this way."

It was the first time Downs had seen Zachary since the evening of May 5, when he was dispatched to the Strunk residence for a "possible leg amputation."

Downs, who has a young son himself, said he raced to the scene knowing that a child with a severed artery could bleed to death in minutes.

"When I got there it was chaos," said Downs, who is also a trained emergency medical technician and did two combat tours in the Army. "There were neighbors and people all over the place and his father was over top of the boy crying. But nobody was providing medical care at that point."

Downs said his military training kicked in as he decided to make an improvised tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Zachary's leg was cut just below the groin.

Downs asked a woman nearby for her shirt and asked someone else to grab a stick. He tied the tourniquet and held it in place even after the ambulance arrived.

The injury was so severe that a medical helicopter landed in the yard and rushed Zachary to Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown. Less than 12 hours later he was transferred to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he would spend the next two months recuperating.

Doctors were able to reattach his leg and before Zachary left the hospital he was able to walk with a walker. Now Zachary, who has since turned 4, is just using a small cane while he continues therapy several days a week.

But when he pulled up to the police station with his father, Chris, to meet the officer who saved him, his face lit up and he walked right up the stairs and into the building.

Downs said he was nervous to meet the boy but felt relieved to see him doing so well.

"I'll be checking up on him periodically now, that's for sure," Downs said.

While he was still in the hospital, Zachary told his parents that he wanted to meet the people who had helped him when he was hurt.

"His mother (Michelle) told him that they were the doctors and people in the hospital all around him," Chris Strunk recalled. "But he said, 'No mommy, I want to meet the people who helped the day my leg was bleeding.' "

Chris Strunk, who works as a police officer in Coatesville, said he had been in touch with Downs several times, but they did not get a chance to arrange a meeting until after Downs won the lifesaver award.

"I wish we knew you were getting the award, because we would have been there," Strunk told Downs.

Strunk said that his son is still looking at years of therapy and medical care, but Zachary is not letting that hold him back.

He told Downs that he wants to be a farmer someday with cows and pigs and a big green tractor. He said he would also like to be a police officer and to help kids with bad legs.

Downs gave Zachary a few early Christmas presents and told him he could do whatever he wants when he grows up.

Strunk, who was backing up the lawn tractor when he accidentally ran over Zachary's leg, said he never expected to see his son in that condition the day of the accident.

"It's hard," he said. "It's very difficult. It's painful. I live in pain every day because I know for an instant of carelessness -- I could have taken a moment to just look before I backed up -- you know, you crippled your son.

"If it was meant to be, it was for a reason, but it could've been a lot worse. It had a very profound impact on the whole family."

Zachary's 5-year-old sister, Madelynn, wants to be a doctor.

The two of them have fun riding around their big yard in a green all-terrain-vehicle toy.

Strunk has a picture of them in it on his phone. Zachary had just gotten home from the hospital, but it's a sunny day and he is smiling and laughing.

Exeter Police Chief Christopher L. Neidert said Downs is a fine example of the professional and highly trained officers in his department.

"Police officers such as Craig Downs remain dedicated to their vocation of protecting and serving their community," Neidert said. "Nothing is more important than being able to save someone's life, let alone a small child."

Downs said it might sound corny, but chances like that are what motivated him to become a police officer.

"I kind of always had the desire to be a doctor but never had the money," Downs said. "This is the third time I've been involved in saving a person's life and that is what motivated me to become a police officer.

"It's good stuff. Things are different when you are talking about a little boy. It becomes personal."

After awhile, Zachary was anxious to leave the police station and walked to the door with his new toys.

"We gotta go, dad," he said. "You promised me a slushy."

Zachary then gave Downs another hug before he and his dad headed out the door.

Contact Jason A. Kahl: 610-371-5024 or jkahl@readingeagle.com.

Copyright 2011 - Reading Eagle, Pa.