AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: OCTOBER 2017 13 U sually when they say “a cop is never o f f - d u t y , ” what they mean is that if the officer is driving home from a shift and they see someone get- ting stuck up on the side of the road, they have to put the cop hat back on and go to work. B u t O f f i c e r B r u c e Giovanelli wasn’t even in town. He was on vacation and visiting Florida for his nephew’s 7th birthday par- ty. Everything seemed fine. It was a beautiful day and the adults chatted and laughed as the kids splashed around in the pool. Everyone was having a blast. Then all hell broke loose. Somehow one of the kids, an eight-year-old boy, fell into the pool and lost con- sciousness. Giovanelli had dipped into the kitchen when the mother of two of the kids started screaming to call 911 because one of the kids had drowned. “I went running out to the pool and observed a boy, named Hudson, laying next to the pool. He appeared to be lifeless,” Giovanelli, a father of two daughters, told the New Haven Register. “That’s when panic mode set in for all the parents. Parents were screaming, kids were crying.” Giovanelli approached and saw a man kneeling beside the boy who said he was CPR certified. Giovanelli told the man he was also certified and also a cop. He checked the boy for a pulse but couldn’t find signs of life. “I told the man to start compressions and that I would administer breaths,” Giovanelli added. “As he began compressions, I had to inform parents to leave the area, as there were still parents in panic mode be- cause they didn’t know what to do.” About four minutes later (Giovanelli described it as feeling more like four hours) he felt a pulse and then there was the sweet sound of chok- ing, coughing and crying. Police and paramedics arrived shortly thereafter. The youngster was airlifted in a helicopter to a nearby hospital. Giovanelli visited the boy the next day and is happy to report everything is fine. Giovanelli, who’s been on the Derby (Connnecticut) police force for seven years, said the incident shows why everyone should get CPR certified. “If you have a wife, hus- band, family member or friend that is not CPR cer- tified, tell them to do it,” Giovanelli said. “If I did not make the trip to Florida or if that man was not CPR certified, that boy would not be alive today.” Officer Bruce Giovanelli points out that CPR comes in handy off-duty as well. Cop saves kid while on vacation