One moment Dan Mauger was speaking to a prosecutor in a crowded Cherry Hill, New Jersey, courtroom, and in the the next he was laying on the floor suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.

"I was speaking to the prosecutor...They said I just dropped and started convulsing," said Mauger. "I remember blackness. To me, I thought I was only out ten minutes, but I was really in the intensive care unit of Kennedy [Hospital] for two-and-a-half days."

Mauger's wife Mary watched the ordeal unfold in the courtoom and used her medical training as a nurse to assist in the rescue of her husband. After several minutes of CPR, an AED was used to restore his heart's rhythm. After stabilizing Mauger for forty-five minutes in the courtroom, paramedics deemed it safe to transport Mauger to Kennedy Hospital.

While Dan Mauger was in transport, an EMT had to use an AED on Mauger once more in order to restore his heart. After nearly three days at Kennedy Hospital, Mauger was transported to Our Lady of Lourdes for a triple bypass surgery.

Mary and Dan Mauger credit his survival to the quick thinking of the Cherry Hill police officers. "They were fantastic," Mary said. "Traveling to Kennedy...and helping in any way they possibly could."

"He was basically dead on the courtroom floor," Mary said. "He didn't regain consciousness until we got to the hospital and the police officers stayed with us at the hospital until he did."

Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt commended the officers and awarded them proclamations for their heroism. Officers Robert Daniello Jr., Eric Lubaczewski, Larry Robb, Ross Hensell and Corey Knoedler all received proclamations and in the presence of Mauger, who was well enough to attend.

We congratulate the Cherry Hill officers for their quick thinking and compassion throughout the entire ordeal of Dan Mauger's cardiac arrest, and wish Mauger our very best in recovering from his surgery and a full restoration of his health.

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