Weymouth
Just a few years ago, the kind of rescue that three Weymouth
police officers pulled off Sunday night would have been impossible.
It happened after a 59-year-old Weymouth middle school science
teacher crashed his car into a garage on Essex Street. Officers used
an automated external defibrillator, several of which were installed
in police cruisers about three years ago, to jump-start the man's
heart, Weymouth Police Sgt. Richard Fuller said.
"The best thing we ever did was put those in our cruisers,"
Fuller said. "The AED will detect if there's a pulse, and it decides
on its own whether you have to shock the heart or not."
Officers Scott Ficarra and Darren King, as well as Sgt. Marie
Farrell, found Rosario "Joe" Contrino without a pulse at a garage
next to a house on Essex Street.
Fuller said the officers applied the defibrillator to Contrino
and it detected no pulse. The device then administered a shock, and
a pulse was detected.
Paramedics arrived and took Contrino to South Shore Hospital,
where he was listed in fair condition Monday.
Contrino, of Weymouth, teaches sixth-grade science at Abigail
Adams Middle School in Weymouth. He is coach of the Weymouth High
School boys' tennis team.
Students praised Contrino on a Web site called Rate My Teachers.
One student wrote in December that Contrino is "sooo my favorite
teacher of the year."
Fuller said police are still investigating what caused Contrino,
who was alone, to drive across the lawn of a house on Essex Street,
strike hedges and plow into a garage about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Fuller said officers were waiting for Contrino to recover further
before interviewing him about what led to the crash. Alcohol and
speed have been ruled out as factors.
No one was home at the time of the crash, which caused
substantial damage to the garage.
Reach Jack Encarnacao at jencarnacao@ledger.com.
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