St. Vincent de Paul Village - Summer 2002

1. Village Breaks Ground on Villa Harvey Mandel
   By Staff Writer
2. Security Team Saves Lives
   By Staff Writer
3. HUD Secretary Tours St. Vincent’s
   By Martha Lepore
4. Children’s Benefit Honors Bill O’Reilly and Community Leaders
   By Martha Lepore
5. The Graduates’ Challenge: Stay Clean and Sober Every Day
   By Martha Lepore

Security Team Saves Lives
By Staff Writer

   When a car with two passengers crashed into St. Vincent de Paul Village’s Bishop Maher Center and burst into flames, the quick reaction of four Village security team members made all the difference.

   Village Officers Ricardo Ellington, John Hicks, Umberto Luna, and Darrell Turley heard the speeding car slam into a telephone pole and the outside wall of the center at 12:45 a.m. on February 23. They raced to the crash and saw a frightening scene.

   The crash knocked out power in the neighborhood and set the outside wall afire. One of the two passengers was trapped inside the car, and Hicks, Ellington, and Turley worked quickly to extricate him. Thirty seconds later, the car exploded. Meanwhile, Luna raced inside and had the center’s residents evacuated for safety precautions.

   The three officers attending the accident victims administered first aid until paramedics arrived. One of the Village’s officers rode with the victims in the ambulance at the request of the medical workers.

   “We train for these emergency procedures,” said Andrea Tooley, Village program manager for security. “Our team members demonstrated excellent judgement and composure.” Tooley noted that Luna, a rookie with the team, reacted like a veteran. “He followed all procedures to the letter of the law,” she said. “All four officers took control of the situation.”

   The accident demolished a fence, left the east-facing peripheral wall of the Bishop Maher Center badly burned, and destroyed three palm trees. It took firefighters an hour to douse the flames fueled by the car’s gasoline. While damage may total thousands of dollars, the bravery and judgement of the security team members prevented loss of life.