Vero Beach Police Officer receives sixth Lifesaving Award

Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey, Officer Sean Toole, Paul Wickert

MARK SCHUMANN

In the early hours of July 25, Vero Beach Police Officer Sean Toole responded to a 911 call reporting an unconscious male who was not breathing. Arriving within two minutes, Toole found Paul Wickert on the floor, unconscious and without a pulse.

Toole administered two cycles of CPR, defibrillation, four more cycles of CPR, more defibrillation, then more CPR before Wickert finally began gasping for air.

It wasn’t the first time Toole had been in Wickert’s home. Two years earlier, the 11 year veteran of the Vero Beach Police Department, who last night received his sixth Lifesaving Award, saved Wickert by administering CPR.

“He’s my guardian angel,” Wicket said.

“I was just happy to be in the right place at the right time. I love doing my job,” Toole said.

According to city officials, every officer in the Vero Beach Police Department is equipped with an automatic external defibrillator (AED), and the department prides itself of two-minute response times.

2 comments

… and our City Council, or at least three of them, want to defund the VBPD so that they can no longer provide this level of service? Please ask Mr. Wicket how he feels about that.

Our Police department provides more services than anthing I can imagine the county’s Sheriffs department doing. To think that Ms.Turner is still trying to cut more money from our Police force is and outrage. We are lucky that the people of this city felt impelled to strike back and refuse any further cuts from it’s staff. It is a shame that we have lost one more irreplaceable officer in Touchberry. The people of this city need to make it known that this is OUR city and we placed the five council persons into office to help protect what we have all become accustomed to and that means our Police Force, our Lifeguards, our Cemetary, our Parks, and our City Workers. Just look around at what is now being neglected in our city in such a short time to out sourcing. Please, speak up for what has become one of the most desireable cities to live in on the eastcoast of Florida….. Vero Beach.