Willmar police officers credited for saving man’s life at the Minnesota State Fair

WILLMAR

— A man’s life could have ended at the Great Minnesota Get-Together were it not for the swift actions of law enforcement officers from Willmar.

On Saturday, Willmar Police Sgt. Samuel Schaefbauer and Officer Timothy Wallace were working with the Minnesota State Fair Police Department, when a person waved them down and said a man had collapsed in the Kidway, a location east of the Grandstand featuring rides and games for children.

According to a release from the State Fair Police Department, shared by Willmar Police Chief Jim Felt, Wallace and Schaefbauer were on the scene within seconds. Another person was performing CPR on a 71-year-old man from Minneapolis, who was at the fair by himself when he suffered a medical emergency.

The officers took over performing chest compressions, switching off until other officers arrived with an automatic external defibrillator, according to the news release. Officers continued CPR while the defibrillator was deployed to deliver an electric shock to re-establish the man’s heartbeat. St. Paul Fire medics arrived and provided advanced life support.

The unnamed Minneapolis man was then rushed to a nearby hospital where he was admitted and continues to receive medical care.

Doctors at the hospital credited the swift actions and combined efforts of the good Samaritan and police officers, according to the news release.

“These officers will probably say they were just doing their jobs, which is true,” said Ron Knafla, chief of police for the fair’s Police Department, in the release. “But on that particular day, at that particular moment, their job was to help save a person’s life and I could not be more proud or grateful for their work.”

Chief Knafla informed the Willmar Police Department that both Sgt. Schaefbauer and Officer Wallace were presented the Minnesota State Fair All-Star Award for their life-saving actions.