45°
“It’s instinct when something like that happens,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “You just do it without thinking about it.”
The Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps took the victim to Hackensack University Medical Center with a broken leg and head trauma following the 8:41 p.m. crash on River Road near Grenville Avenue, Police Lt. Andrew McGurr said this morning.
Meanwhile, the 57-year-old New Milford woman driving the 2004 Toyota Corolla that hit him remained at the scene, McGurr said, adding that no summonses were issued.
Tedesco, a 38-year firefighting veteran and deputy OEM director in Paramus, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that he was driving to a Pink and Blue Bergen County Democratic Women’s PAC event in New Milford last night when he heard screams and saw the victim in the middle of the road a couple of car lengths ahead.
After getting out of his car, he radioed Paramus police headquarters to get help, Tedesco said.
“At first it looked like he was unconscious,” he said. “He was breathing, but he had a weak pulse. He was also bleeding pretty heavily from his skull.”
So Tedesco said he radioed again.
“I started talking to him and he opened his eyes,” he said. “I told him: ‘Don’t move’.”
An off-duty EMT who happened along joined in, Tedesco said.
Together they stabilized the man’s head.
“I kept talking to him until the EMTs got there. Then I got out of their way,” Tedesco, who is also a county freeholder, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
An attendee at last night’s fundraiser who took the same route asked Tedesco whether that was him rendering aid.
“You have to tell someone,” the friend told him.
“Paramus police have my name,” Tedesco responded. “That was enough….I’m just glad I could help.”
That he and the other good Samaritan kept the victim’s head still was critical, Larry Robinson, a spokesman for the TVAC, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
Emergency medical workers frequently emphasize the importance of not moving someone who’s sustained a forceful blow to the head.
The risk of even trying to put a pillow under such a victim’s head is possibly making severe head, neck or back injuries worse, Robinson said.
“They did everything exactly right,” he said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
