CHICAGO (STNG) -- A Chicago Police officer is being credited with saving the life of a man who was found early Tuesday gloveless and in a near delirious state possibly suffering from hypothermia after attending the Bears game on the Near South Side.
The man called police from his cell phone at 1:11 a.m. and said “I can’t move” and “I am extremely cold,’’ according to a Central District police, who said Officer Femi Odugbesan found him and saved the 22-year-old Bridgeview man’s life.
He told police he couldn’t remember where he parked his car and said, “I’m lying near the water." Police determined he might be in the vicinity of the 1300 block of South Lake Shore Drive.
Officer Odugbesan was first on the scene and found Jozef Kowalkowski outside and alone in front of the Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Dr.
“He kept calling back and I found him right in front of the Shedd Aquarium. He was walking towards me," Odugbesan said, adding that Kowalkowski was wearing all black clothing and a coat with a hood, but had no gloves and no hat.
“He just kept saying he couldn’t feel his hands and he said he was thirsty. He said he felt like his chest was going to explode,’’ Odugbesan said.
“I had some Coke in my car and I gave that to him. He was still kind of delirious. I put him in the back of the squad car. He said he was walking around looking for his car. I said you live in Chicago you should know better,’’ according to the officer.
“I put him in the back of the squad car and told him he was going to be OK and to just relax. [Chicago Fire Department] Ambulance 41 came and got him,’’ according to Odugbesan, who said Kowalkowski was taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center.
Odugbesan said the man, of West 83rd Street in the southwest suburb, may have suffered from hypothermia. At 2:40 a.m, he remained in the emergency room suffering from frostbite on his left hand.
He was released from the hospital sometime Tuesday morning, according to a hospital spokesperson.
“He was happy to see me,’’ Odugbesan said of Kowalkowski when he talked to him at the hospital. “He thanked me.’’
It was not immediately known whether the man is a Bears fan or a Green Bay Packers fan.
The Bears defeated the Packers 20-17 in overtime and the game ended around 11 p.m.
When asked whether he thought he saved Kowalkowski's life, Odugbesan said, “No, I don’t think so, I’m just doing my job.’’
Copyright 2008 STNG Wire, The Chicago Sun-Times. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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