‘Perfect timing’: Penn Township EMS, police save Murrysville man after motorcycle crash

If it were not for a Penn Township police officer stopping to investigate debris on the road and some damaged mailboxes, Steven Antolovich might not be alive.

The police officer and three Penn Township ambulance personnel were honored by the Allegheny Health Network Friday for their lifesaving efforts.

Antolovich, 29, of Murrysville lost control of his motorcycle early in the morning June 2 while driving along Claridge-Export Road, near the intersection of Claridge-Elliot and Dutch Hollow.

The last thing he remembers is approaching a telephone pole.

“I remember a split-second clip of going towards that telephone pole and thinking ‘I’ve got to get between that pole and that guide wire or I’m toast,’ ” Antolovich said. “That’s the only thing I remember. I aimed the bike as best I could.”

Penn Township police Sgt. David Noll found Antolovich in high grass off the side of the road while on regular patrol around 3 a.m.

Noll stayed at Antolovich’s side and held his hand until ambulance services arrived.

Penn Township Ambulance arrived at the scene in nine minutes. The crew — Chad Buchanan, Josh Lawther and Troy Loughman — spent 14 minutes at the scene before beginning the 13-minute drive to Forbes Hospital, monitoring Antolovich’s vital signs on the way.

Antolovich was moved into surgery within six minutes of arrival at the hospital to address bleeding in his abdomen.

Doctors and surgeons addressed fractures in the skull, face, ribs, pelvis and upper and lower extremities, said Michael Taramelli, trauma program director for the Allegheny Health Network.

Antolovich also was treated for lacerations in the spleen, liver and colon.

He spent 21 days in the intensive care unit.

If the ambulance had arrived 10 minutes later, Antolovich would not have made it, one of his doctors told him.

“It was perfect timing,” Antolovich said. “Whether we believe it or not, I don’t think it’s up to us. It’s somebody else’s plan. The man upstairs’ plan to put you guys in the right spot and Officer Noll at the right spot saved my life and saved my family a lot of hardship.”

Antolovich presented Buchanan, Lawther and Lougman with coins from the Allegheny Health Network, an honorary practice of the network intended to remind first responders of the difference they make in patients’ lives.

He plans to present a coin separately to Noll, who was unable to attend the event Friday.

“If not for the foresight of the Penn Township police officer who found Steven and, if not for the quick actions of the Penn Township EMS crew to rapidly transport Steven, there may have been a much different outcome,” Taramelli said.

Antolovich’s survival is an inspiration to the Penn Township Ambulance service, said Director of Operations Ed Grant.

“There’s so many people we encounter that we don’t really get to see the end work, or sometimes, we know the end work, and it’s not very heart-filling. Your survival and your will to stay alive really inspires all of us EMS providers,” Grant said. “It helps us everyday to go out and do what we did for you for the next person.”

Eight surgeries, two medically induced comas and 34 days later, Antolovich was discharged from the hospital in a wheelchair and a “good bit of hardware,” he said.

He will attempt walking for the first time since the accident on Aug. 30.