Cops Call Theft of Defibrillator 'Disgraceful,' Until Samaritan Reveals Why
An ever-increasing number of communities and businesses around the globe are installing these life-saving devices for the public to use in emergencies. One of the wonderful things about them is that while it is helpful to have, no prior training is required to use them in order to save a life.
South Wales Police PC Julian Williams explained to Wales Online, “An AED is a portable defibrillator especially designed for people with no medical background.
“It actually talks you through what you need to do and it can mean the difference between life and death for someone who collapses.”
So, when it was discovered that an AED device had gone missing from it’s public location “outside an Old Colwyn school,” the North Wales Police took to social media to call out the crooks who took it.
On Facebook they wrote that the device was “normally kept inside a locked cabinet located on the wall.”
The post went on, “District Inspector Kelly Isaacs said: ‘The theft of this important life-saving resource is disgraceful. It is equipment which is there for the benefit of the community to have access to in an emergency. We are appealing to anyone who may have any knowledge of who was responsible for removing the Defibrillator from its box.'”
Of course, the public reacted with outrage over the reported theft of such a valuable piece of life-saving equipment, disparaging the guilty party and wishing bad things to happen to the person who took the device.
But then, in the comments, “the rest of the story” was revealed, reported the Daily Post.
Part of the story came from Mei Owens, who wrote, “It’s back safe and sound in Colwyn Bay Ambulance Station. We will arrange to get it back in the community where it belongs asap.”
More details were provided by Charlotte Holt, “I have just called 101 and explained that this was used for an emergency on Sunday. We were told to go and get it from school given the code to access it and then told the ambulance crew about and they took it.”
She added that while the device ended up not being used, it was “handed to the ambulance crew,” but was not replaced in its locked cabinet.
A discussion ensued regarding whether that should be the protocol and if there should be better communication between the various emergency service providers.
Despite the revelation, more people commented about how the criminals who stole the device should be punished. Then Andy Julian commented on the post, specifically to Holt, regarding the situation he was also part of, “I’ve only just seen this charlotte. I’m glad you’ve explained what we needed this machine for, all these conclusions.”
He added, “When In fact the guy who helped us out, and got the machine hurt himself in the process by climbing the fence, he also lost his dog by simply letting go of the lead while trying to save a life if things turned serious.
“It’s nice to see good people around pulling together when needed. I’m glad you were there too, I couldn’t have handled the situation by myself.”
Eventually, the North Wales Police did update their social media posts. Their update on Facebook explained that “…the defibrillator has been located, our enquiries have established an innocent explanation.”
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