BUNNELL, FL — Two Bunnell police officers were honored at a recent Bunnell City Commission meeting for separate lifesaving actions. One was at the bedside of an elderly hospice patient who was struggling to breathe. The other was with an unresponsive patient suffering a suspected fentanyl overdose.
Chief David Brannon presented the department’s Life Saving Award to Officer Fallon Ingino and to Officer Sean Schlobohm. The two calls were very different, but they shared one thing. In each, an officer faced a moment when it would have been easy to assume nothing more could be done and chose to keep going.
After each award presentation, the officers received their own standing ovations from the Mayor, Commissioners, City staff, and the audience.
Officer Fallon Ingino: A Welfare Check Became a Rescue
On May 1st, Officer Ingino was dispatched to a Bunnell home for a welfare check on an elderly hospice patient. Her family had not heard from her since the previous evening.
Ingino knocked repeatedly at the front door and got no answer. The only sound from inside was a small dog barking. Rather than clear the call, Ingino went to the rear of the home, kept knocking and kept calling out. Then she heard a faint sound from inside.
She returned to the front door, found it unsecured, announced herself and went in. She found the woman in bed, in visible respiratory distress, saying she could not breathe.
Ingino immediately requested Fire Rescue. She searched the home, found the woman’s breathing apparatus in another room and helped her restore her breathing. Ingino stayed at the woman’s side until paramedics arrived. The woman was taken to AdventHealth Palm Coast, and her family was notified.
The woman later died of medical complications. In a follow-up conversation, her son told the department Ingino’s actions kept his mother alive long enough for him to travel home and spend meaningful final time with her.
Officer Sean Schlobohm: A Third Dose When Two Weren’t Enough
On August 4th, Schlobohm responded to a Bunnell home where CPR was in progress on a patient suffering a suspected fentanyl overdose.
When he arrived, the patient already received two doses of naloxone, the overdose-reversal medication commonly known as Narcan, and was still unresponsive. Schlobohm knew of recent alerts to officers warning of increased fentanyl potency. He recognized how serious the overdose was and gave a third dose of Narcan.He then began chest compressions and continued lifesaving measures through the critical minutes which followed. The patient began breathing again, started moving, regained consciousness and was able to speak.
Chief’s Statement
“Our oath is to protect human life, every life, in every circumstance,” said Bunnell Police Chief David Brannon. “One of these calls involved a woman in the final days of her life. The other involved someone in the grip of a deadly drug. Neither officer stopped to weigh who was on the other side of that door. They saw a person who needed help, and they gave everything they had.”
“Officer Ingino refused to let a closed door be the end of a welfare check, and because of her tenacity, a son got to say goodbye to his mother,” Brannon said. “Officer Schlobohm didn’t stop when two doses of Narcan hadn’t worked, and a person on the edge of a fatal overdose was brought back. That is what our training is for, and it is exactly who I expect our officers to be. They brought great credit to themselves, to this department, and to the people of Bunnell.”
About the Bunnell Police Department
Serviong Florida’s second largest city in land mass, nearly 139 square miles, the Bunnell Police Department professionally serves the residents, businesses, and visitors of Bunnell, Florida, with 16 authorized sworn officers and three professional staff on a mission to “Serve Above Self” through ethical, accountable policing, protection of constitutional rights, and community partnerships to reduce crime and strengthen public safety.
