Cheney police officer Zeb Campbell receives award

By DAVID TELLER

Staff Reporter

For a guy who didn't even want to be a police officer in the first place, Cheney police officer, Zeb Campbell doesn't mind being decorated for saving the life of a teenager that had been hit by a car June 29.

It started out as any other day. Campbell said he was getting normal calls.

He said he was taking a report on a found bicycle when he received a call about a bicycle-auto accident on Presley Drive and Holladay Drive. As he was enroute to the scene, dispatch said the 16-year-old male wasn't doing well.

When he arrived on the scene, he saw a teenage boy laying on his side with his face toward the ground with what would later be diagnosed as a closed-head injury.

The teen had ran a stop sign and collided with the side of a heavy-frame, Cheney Public Works truck. Campbell said he was unconscious and unresponsive with blood coming from his face and mouth, but he was breathing normally.

That didn't last long. Campbell said the victim's breathing became more shallow, and then stopped.

“This only took a few seconds to happen,” he said. “Everything was happening very quickly.”

Campbell, who is a trained EMT, along with Det. Matt Humphrey who had arrived on the scene, decided that despite the suspicion of a spinal injury, they would roll the teen on to his back to help open his airway.

“At that point, you have to make a decision, and breathing is more important,” Campbell said. “Yes, he might be in a wheelchair the rest of his life, but at least he's going to be alive.”

Once they turned the youth onto his back, Campbell did a jaw thrust and the victim began to breathe on his own. Campbell deduced the teen's airway had become obstructed by blood from his face and mouth.

Paramedics arrived on the scene and took over the emergency care, so Campbell started investigating the accident and guided an evacuation helicopter in landing on the baseball field at Salnave Park.

For his actions during the accident, the American Red Cross recognized Campbell as a Hometown Hero.

He estimates the Red Cross recognition came a month ago.

During the City Council meeting on Nov. 13, Cheney Police Chief, Jeff Sale, acknowledged Campbell to the council and public in attendance for the Red Cross award. Also during the presentation, Campbell was awarded a National Lifesaving Award from the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

“We're proud of the fine training and experience he has and he worked a lot to do what was needed to be done to save someone's life,” Sales said of Campbell.

“His ability is representative of all officers in the department.”

Cmdr. Rick Campbell submitted Officer Campbell for both decorations. Despite the similarity in their names, the two men are not related.

Campbell said he didn't set out to be a police officer. He wanted to be a fireman. He struggled with the civil service exam. When he took the test for a position with the Eastern Washington University police he was hired. He served with EWU for a year before joining the Cheney Police Department on Dec. 5, 2006.

He currently lives in Cheney with Maudi, his wife of eight years.

David Teller can be reached at [email protected]