The three officers had gone to the academy together and finished field training together. They'd been on the Avondale police force for almost two years the day they almost died together trying to save Brian Mealer's life.
Mealer's van had veered off the road on July 16 and crashed into a power pole in Avondale, shearing it in two. A live power line was on the roof when the three first responders showed up and pulled Mealer out. The dramatic event was caught on the officers' bodycams and released to the news media.
Interviewed at Avondale police headquarters, officers Raul Alcala, J.J. Del Pozzo and Dante Herron, dressed in uniforms with body armor, humbly answered questions while striking a nonchalant bravado. They were happy to have helped Mealer,
but it wasn't a big deal to them, they said. Even while they admit they were told they all could have been electrocuted.
"It's kind of a shock to us that this family is really grateful, because for us it sounds silly, but it really was just another call," Officer J.J. Del Pozzo told The Arizona Republic.
Heart attack preceded crash
Mealer, who's 56 and lives in Mesa, had been Avondale that day to pick up an old Mercury Comet he'd bought for the parts for $100. He'd never had a heart problem before, he told The Republic in a phone interview. But on that summer day, after he'd put four wheels on the car so he could tow it, and after a week of being sick with an abdominal illness and barely eating, his heart just gave out.
Doctors later told him it was a cardiac arrest. He's being treated now, as of mid-August, and may need a defibrillator installed in his chest.
"My doctor said my electrolytes were like at zero," Mealer said.
He doesn't remember anything about the day, he said. He had no pulse when the three officers showed up.
Del Pozzo jumped out of his patrol vehicle when he saw the scene after getting the call of a collision. Mealer had been unconscious in the vehicle for up to five minutes, he estimated.
The broken power pole was held by the power lines, some of which were on the ground and running to the top of the crashed van, he said. He immediately yelled at two "civilians" approaching Mealer's van to get back, because "at the time we didn't know if the lines were energized."
The lines were hot, they later found out.
'Not the brightest decision'
The officers were trained that if transformers attached to broken power poles haven't "blown," there's a 50-50 chance the wires are active, Del Pozzo said. They felt they had to act quickly, so "we went in," he said.
Even going within 3 to 5 feet of live power lines is dangerous, he said.
"I tried to pick him up off of the seat without touching any of the frame or metal as best as possible," he said. "It would only make minor difference if it's going to arc and hit us or not, but we tried to take every precaution that we could, as fast as we could."
Del Pozzo laid Mealer on the ground.
"At that point I didn't observe any pulse whatsoever," Acala said. Their efforts using CPR worked.
"J.J. instructed me to tilt his head so I can open up his airway," Herron said. "At that point, that's kind of like where you guys start hearing that breathing, signifying like there's some kind of air getting through. And that's when we started getting a little bit of a pulse back, right as the firefighters were coming up."
Yet representatives of Salt River Project, who manage the power lines in that area, said going near the wires before the power could be shut off "was probably not the brightest decision," Del Pozzo said. "SRP, in a polite way, said they don't know why we weren't electrocuted."
SRP did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The officers said they believed in the moment Mealer, unconscious in a crashed, sweltering vehicle, would certainly die. They were luckily incorrect about that, it turned out.
Acala praised the firefighters and doctors who helped save Mealer.
"I feel like they don't get enough recognition," he said.
Thankful family
Mealer woke up in a hospital with his wife and family around him. His wife was "crying and scared" but relieved at his recovery.
His brother, Lewis Mealer, said he learned about the crash when Brian texted simply, "ICU. Heart attack."
Lewis Mealer called Avondale police to find out what happened and talked to Del Pozzo, who he believes deserves an award.
“If there’s power lines on a vehicle, and you charge in not knowing whether it’s going to kill you or not and grab the door handle and pull it open, I think that’s pretty brave,” Lewis Mealer said.
He sent his brother a "ridiculously long text" detailing the rescue.
Brian Mealer said when he heard what the officers had done for him, he was "just glad no one else was hurt."
He plans to meet the men soon.
"I have to go over there and get my stuff. I was going to stop by the Avondale Police Department on my way out there and try to show some kind of gratitude," he said.
Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.
Reach Alaina Mencinger at Alaina.Mencinger@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Against all odds. How Avondale officers pulled off a lifesaving rescue
