SLC police officer helps save man during heart attack


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SALT LAKE CITY — There are words printed into metal displays outside the Salt Lake City Police Department. Words like honor, duty and courage that could easily just be words one would see outside almost any law enforcement station.

However, at 999 South Main Street in Salt Lake City Saturday night, those words became actions.

"I'm glad that they followed through and went above and beyond,” said London Bell during a phone interview from her home in Detroit.

Bell’s father, James Bell, lives at that address inside one of the Palmer Court apartments.

She hadn't heard from her father in a while, and knowing he had been having heart problems, she called Salt Lake City police and asked if an officer could check on him.

"I think it was just an instinct we had. Something just didn't feel right,” she said.

A short time later, Officer Adam Green knocked on Bell's door.

However, he didn't get an answer.

Green could have left and noted in his report no one came to the door.

However, he found the apartment manager and asked if he could open the door.

The manager agreed, and when Green walked in, he found Bell on the floor in the middle of a heart attack.

“We get these types of calls all the time, we call them welfare checks,” said Det. Cody Lougy with the Salt Lake City Police Department. “Most of the time, they’re nothing. But in this particular call, Officer Green certainly made a difference. He was an angel in the form of a police officer for this individual who was able to get him some first aid and the help he needed at such a crucial time."

Bell is now recovering at a hospital.

"He's doing a lot better. He's still going through some tests and he's resting. That officer went above and beyond and we can’t thank him enough," said his daughter.

There’s another word out front of Salt Lake City’s Police Department to go along with honor, duty and courage: sacrifice.

The Bell family would know better than most families what the words above and beyond, as well as sacrifice, really mean.

Staff Sgt. James Vincent Bell, the son of James Bell, the man recovering from a heart attack, was killed in action while serving with the Marines in Afghanistan in 2011. The family was given American flags during his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

This past weekend, thanks to Officer Green, the senior Bell was given his life back.

"It seemed divine because we had no idea who else to call,” said his daughter. “So we called police and their timing was perfect. It was divine.”

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