A 54-year-old Harrison man collapsed during Saturday’s Sleepy Hollow Halloween 10K and was apparently declared dead shortly after his arrival at Phelps Memorial Hospital.
The man's identity and more information on the incident have not yet been released by Sleepy Hollow police, a spokesperson from the hospital, or race director Kristen Idalski.
The runner's collapse happened on Fremont Street in the Sleepy Hollow Manor neighborhood, where neighbors and fellow runners rushed to his aid.
“We felt he was still alive after falling but he didn’t have a big pulse,” said Kristen Lankester of Fremont Road, who, with her husband Chuck, was among the first to take a role in trying to save the man's life.
Lankester estimated it took 20 minutes for emergency aid to arrive at the scene.
She contrasted that to reports she had heard that there was EMS support for the race just down the road at Philipse Manor Train Station.
The man had, according to what runners behind the man told the Lankesters, gasped and looked wobbly. Then he collapsed, hitting his head on the way down. He lay prone, with his head on the lawn and body on the street.
Lankester and others on the scene figured he had suffered some sort of arrest, but couldn't assume anything about his medical history. Lankester said he was bleeding from a cut on his head but wasn't losing much blood.
Neighbors and runners who stopped kept asking passing runners if there were a doctor or nurse among them; finally a doctor runner did happen by and started aggressively doing CPR on the man.
Multiple 911 calls were made, neighbors said.
As the minutes ticked by, runners moved everyone to one side of the road and the samaritan doctor “started desperately doing CPR on the spot.” Lankester said the doctor said, “he’s fired up,” meaning he had gotten the heart rate back up which he continued to do for many minutes.
Chuck Lankester pulled his car out because he thought he would take the man to the hospital himself, but the doctor ruled it out since he wouldn’t be able to continue CPR en route.
Another neighbor just a few doors down on Fremont, Erin McCarthy, witnessed the whole scene, albeit at a bit further back to shield her young children, and found herself shocked. “We are completely outraged by the horrible response time from the police and ambulance," she said.
McCarthy continued:
It was an epic fail by our police and emergency responders. People kept calling frantically and on our third call, the police officer told my husband that the ambulance responders were all volunteers so it takes them much longer. Can this be true? We have no paid responders? And we live so close to Phelps, no one could have been dispatched from there?
After what neighbors felt was 15 minutes, help was apparently near but lost in the Manor, according to both Lankester and McCarthy. They said they heard police leading the ambulance there went the wrong way down Fremont.
Lankester speculated there were any number of factors at work on what was surely a complicated day: roads were blocked for the race making traveling more complicated and clearly there some sort of communication problem. Still, “it’s not so uncommon that a runner will drop during these races,” said Lankester, who was stunned that there wouldn’t be medical assistance on shorter call for such an event.
A third Sleepy Hollow Manor resident, who did not want to use his name, explained that geography itself was not on their side: "It may also be worth noting that that's quite possibly the worst intersection in the entire village for an emergency. Fremont crosses Hemlock no less than three times. You'd think dispatchers familiar with the area would know to be very specific, but at the same time it's not surprising that the ball got dropped somewhere along the line."
This resident said that the first ambulance witnesses heard and saw was the Sleepy Hollow Ambulance. They saw it enter the Manor at the northern entrance, "which is the right place to go if you think you're headed to the northeast intersection of Fremont and Hemlock." He recounted that a few minutes later another ambulance appeared at that same entrance. Neither one with a police escort. "The routes both took seem consistant with dispatching confusion," he said.
Finally, police and EMS arrived—Lankester noted two units from Sleepy Hollow and Ossining, the first a blue van with lights—who immediately gave the man oxygen and “other treatments."
From there, he was transported to Phelps.
Lankester said she had been working with other runners to help to find the man’s name and information. Race director Idalski had been back and forth with Lankester on the phone and put the concerned neighbor in touch with the man’s wife.
Lankester said she was the person who called the wife to tell her what happened and that he had been transported to Phelps.
The Lankesters were now personally invested in this man’s fate; the couple went to the hospital to check in on the man about an hour or an hour-and-a-half after the incident. There they said they came across the man’s wife, who told them he had died.
“It’s important we all be educated on how to handle these things” is a lesson Lankester said she walked away with on Saturday. She and her husband both think there should be some sort of emergency preparedness protocol in place for villagers.
In the meantime, she plans on immediately signing up for CPR training with the Red Cross and urges others to do the same. If help isn't coming, she said, we'd better be ready to help each other.
“Everyone made a heroic effort,” Lankester said, “but it would have probably been better if he got professional help sooner.”
According to the Rivertown Runners website, the group that coordinated this Third Annual event with more than 1,000 participants, "The course is challenging, scenic and fun!"
The route:
Runners will start on Beekman Ave heading East towards Broadway/Rte 9 turning onto Washington and then down Valley St. From there the course takes you down to College Ave and then up Cortlandt back to Beekman heading West (towards the Hudson river). From Beekman turn right onto Andrews lane. Follow Andrews to Pocantico and turn left down Pocantico into the Manors.
Many participants wear costumes for this festive race, and there are water stations throughout. For a map of the race route click here.
Stay tuned for updates on this story.
Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our newsletter
When a 911 medical emergency is phoned in the dispatch goes to Police, ALS (Advanced Life Support=Paramedics) and BLS (Basic Life Support=EMT w/ ambulance). Usually police are first on scene as they are out patrolling and often can be closer. The second to arrive is often ALS. Care is not delayed as these are both pay services and their response time is not dependant on leaving home to go pick up an ambulance as is the case often with the volunteer ambulance service. This is not really a terrible thing but this is how it is. The only delay that this creates would be the actual ride to the hospital. Remember though, Advanced Life Support care is in progress. Now, when an event like the one that tragically occurred during the race takes place there is nothing that first responders will be able to do unless immediate bystander support is given. I find this to be the bigger weakness over what people here are complaining about. The police state that their car was on scene in 8 minutes. These are taped time reports that are done as they happen. Not likely to be manufactured. continued in next post
When a person collapses from SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest) they will be brain dead in about 4 minutes unless immediate CPR is begun. This appears not to be the case here, but it is unclear. Now, there is no panacea that early enough CPR would have changed anything but it is the only chance that this person would have had. I would assume (I now I know) that the police would have had an AED (Defibrillator) and could/should/did attempt to use it immediately. If not the ALS, Paramedics, surely would have had one. However, unless bystander CPR started soon enough all hope would be lost. The national survival rate for SCA victims is below 11%. But we look at places like Seattle Washington where it is about 50%. The reason is 30 years of mandatory CPR education in the schools. And, unlike here were many say, "I took a CPR course" but then have no idea what to do in an emergency because they never refreshed their skills. It is imperative that to avoid tragedies like this one (and over 400,000 SCA victims outside of the hospital with about 340,000 deaths every year in the US) that people take some responsibilities and learn CPR and First Aid.
Go out and learn CPR, stay current by reviewing it or taking the course periodically. Learn Basic First Aid. The life you protect or save may be a loved one. It also never hurts to help a stranger.
This is a very partial article and I hope the the reporter will research and reports official facts of this incident so that this story is presented more objectively. However, It is apparent, evidenced by reader response, most have already formulated their opinions, though the article does not state official facts to counter or support claims stated in the article. You are all entitled to your comments & opinions. For those who think that the bucket brigade only occurred 200 years ago, I'd ask that you closely examine the current status of volunteer EMS and fire departments in Westchester County, because you will find a sophisticated, well organized, high tech organization. In essence, the bucket brigade of 200 years ago, has become a high tech operation of today. The only thing that has not changed in 200+ years are all the men and women who've dedicate their time by volunteering.
I am a resident of Sleepy Hollow, a parent of two and a husband. I work full-time and am a member of the Sleepy Hollow Volunteer Ambulance Corps. It is not unusual for me to sleep with my SHAC pager under my pillow, when I am on call during the overnight hours. I joined to become part of the solution. For all the good Samaritans who helped, I thank you. And again, my condolences to the family who suffered the loss of a loved one. My heart goes out to you.
Unfortunately, you and your neighbors do not get to dictate the amount of resources each call will receive. The emergency services world does not operate by just sending someone out to give an opinion on what they think. If the situation seems to be serious enough that you call the Police / Fire Dept., than you're going to get the Fire Dept. That's what they do. Just wondering what your posts would say if God forbid there was an actual gas leak and just one member showed up to give an opinion and the house blew up. I'm quite sure your opinion would be different. Instead of pretending to know how these things work, find out for yourself.
My heart goes to the family and for their loss.
First, those who are EMT's who volunteer for the amublance corps in our communities are heroes. They give up time to try to serve the community by saving lives. In August of 2011, my life was saved by the Congers Valley Cottage ambulance crew so i have the utmost respect for these individuals. I was involved in a bicycle accident and suffered severe head and facial injuries. Now, back to my point. More facts will come out in the coming days, and many of them may take focus off what we as citizens can control and what we cannot. If this runner went into sudden cardiac arrest, which is what i believe happened here, whether an ambulance got there in 8 minutes or 12 minutes or whatever amount of minutes, it may not have been the most critical factor in this story. This story is about a man who died to young, and education of sudden cardiac arrest and CPR. When someone goes into sudden cardiac arrest, the most important thing is getting the victim CPR immediately.... In those minutes we wait for the ambulance. We should not be looking to blame for things we can't control and we should all focus on what we can control, and we can all learn CPR in less than a half day by becoming certified. Thank you