Photo:Constable Randall Arsenault and Constable Marleen Conley
A Toronto Police officer who lives in Northumberland County is one of two officers being praised for the quick actions in saving two people found lifeless in a pool Friday night.
Constable Randall Arsenault lives near the lakeshore in Northumberland County and makes the daily drive to Toronto for work as a police officer.
On Friday, July 19, 2019 Arsenault and his partner Constable Marleen Conley received a call about a possible drowning in a pool at a Scarborough motel around 5:30 p.m.
Conley was at the wheel and while on-route to the scene dispatched updated them there were possibly two men at the bottom of a pool.
“They were not moving and no one was assisting them at the time,” the dispatcher told the officers while responding.
“When we pulled up we could tell by the way people were looking, there was an incident. We immediately went to the pool area and observed two males floating face down in the pool.”
“One was at the bottom and another was closer to the top.”
Just as Arsenault and Conley arrived at the side of the pool, two other officers (Nathalie Urbas and Marc Joseph) from the Public Safety Response Team arrived.
“We looked at each other for a split second, and said, “yup we’re going in.”
Arsenault, Conley along with Constable Urbas took off their duty belts and went in the pool.
Arsenault got the man who was near the bottom of the pool and brought him to the surface and over to the side of the pool where the officers lifted the men from the pool and started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
“There was no pulse from either of the men and paramedics and firefighters quickly arrived on scene.”
Arsenault said police assisted paramedics in whatever they needed including with CPR and helping out with the paramedics medical equipment.
Both men had a pulse when they left the area with paramedics in an “emergency run” to hospital.
A humble Arsenault said he and his partner along with the other two officers were at the right place at the right time.
“It’s a really good feeling to get a pulse back, but I know any other Toronto officer would have done the same thing.
“It’s part of the training, but I think it’s just instinct and I think most people would do that to help someone.”
For the officers – it was all in a day’s work. After changing their clothes at the police station, all the officers were back on the road helping keep the citizens of Toronto safe.
Arsenault said the last word he received was that both men are in critical condition.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
