Crime & Safety

UPDATE: ShopRite Employees Break Car Window to Save Unresponsive Man in Parking Lot

Man suffered an apparent heart attack Friday morning

Employees at the were forced to break the car window of a man who suffered an apparent heart attack while driving through the store's parking lot Friday morning. 

The man, who has been identified by Manchester Police Department Lt. Robert Dolan as 77-year-old township resident Isaac Lasky, was alone and unresponsive in his car when the incident occurred at about 9:30 a.m.

Two cart attendants, Matthew Camp and Ron Weaver, saw his car strike a curb. Camp called 911 while Weaver went inside to alert management, said Jennifer McMahon, director of Human Resources for Perlmutter Family ShopRites.

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Police said that the car stopped in the grass between the store's lot and Route 70. Employees who responded to the car had a problem.

"The car was running, it was in gear and it was locked," McMahon said.

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A contractor driving through the lot stopped to provide assistance and offered a hammer to ShopRite management which was used to break the right rear window of the car, McMahon said. 

Along with Sgt. James Dellane and Ptl. Scott Thompson, store manager Paul Spence, Human Resources Manager Bob Wagner and Front End Manager Dan Marck were then able to remove the man from his car.

The store's portable defibrillator was used to shock the unresponsive man twice, stabilizing his heart rate, McMahon said. 

Dolan said that Ptl. Richard Conklin and Ptl. Jason Wiener delivered the shocks using the store's defibrillator and performed CPR. Paramedics from MONOC and Quality Medical Transport arrived at the scene and stabilized Lasky, who was then transported to Community Medical Center in Toms River in stable condition.

McMahon said that the Perlmutter Family ShopRite stores have been outfitted with defibrillators for at least 12 years and have helped to save about 15 people, from customers to store employees. 

Manchester police patrol cars also carry the portable defibrillators, know as automated external defibrillators, Dolan said. They are "easy to use and have voice prompts to help any rescuer through the steps to deliver effective CPR and defibrillation shocks if needed," he said.

Patrolman Thomas O'Hare of the police department's Traffic Safety Section is investigating the incident, Dolan said.


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