Beaver County parents frustrated from seeing delayed emergency response time

BEAVER COUNTY, Pa. — Beaver County parents say their township’s response times to emergencies could have cost them their daughter’s life. Shane Sadauskas called 911 Monday night after his 11-month-old was turning blue inside their Hanover Township home. A piece of plastic toy lodged in her throat. Shane and his wife are both CPR certified, and immediately began CPR.

“She was turning blue... I really didn’t think I’d be able to save her. That was the scariest thing, especially being a parent who knows CPR, in that moment you’re not even thinking of techniques and everything. You’re more worried about your daughter ‚you’re so overwhelmed with emotions, you lose all that.”

Shane says Pennsylvania State Police arrived 15 minutes later; an Independence Township police officer right behind them saying he was parked just two blocks away but wasn’t dispatched. He responded after seeing them go past, lights and sirens on.

“If we didn’t know what to do, my daughter would have died. She would have died Monday night and there was a police officer, which was not his fault, but he was sitting two streets over.”

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Shane’s community of 90 homes is split in half, Hanover Township and Independence Township. Hanover does not have a police department.

The head of Beaver County Emergency Services says Hanover is the most rural area they cover, and it will typically take an ambulance twenty minutes to respond. Hanover Volunteer Fire Department is less than ten minutes away but they’re waiting for state certification to use their new QRS, Quick Response Service vehicle, which is for medics that don’t transport.

In this case Shane says he was told medics were thirty to forty-five minutes out. He says there are bigger issues at play, including law suits and tax issues and he’d like to see it resolved.

“I really thought in the next two days I’d be burying my daughter. With a feud with townships, we are more worried about that than saving people’s lives,” Sadauskas said.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

RAW: Defense attorney reacts after man acquitted on all charges in deadly Club Erotica shooting

©2022 Cox Media Group