Indiana State Police Trooper Jason Ward wouldn't admit a 20-year-old Columbia City man would be dead today without him. His employer did that.

The Indiana State Police recognized the seven-year veteran earlier this month at an awards ceremony in Indianapolis with a Life Saving Award for the measures he took Nov. 25 to keep Zach Mosley alive.

Ward won't touch the term “hero.”

“It's one of (those) things where I had the right piece of equipment and I was at the right spot,” said Ward. “I did what the taxpayers of Indiana expect me to do.”

Ward was finishing a traffic stop on U.S. 30 just outside Arcola when he heard what he thought were tornado sirens in the distance. Ward called into his home post at 5811 Ellison Road and learned the sirens were actually alarms summoning the Arcola Fire Department for a motorist who had collapsed with a life-threatening medical condition on U.S. 30, near the Whitley-Allen County Line.

Since he was just two miles away, Ward beat the firefighters to the scene. Ward pulled behind the van and approached to discover two girls in the back and Mosley sprawled across the back seat, wrapped in a blanket and unresponsive.

Ward asked if Mosley had a history of heart conditions, and one of them - who Ward later learned was Mosley's girlfriend - confirmed he did.

So Ward ran to his cruiser, grabbed his defibrillator and returned to the van.

By that time, Arcola firefighters arrived on scene and helped Ward pull Mosley from the van, lay him on the ground and open his shirt.

Ward turned on the defibrillator and placed it on Mosley to receive instructions from the device.

“Lo and behold, the machine said to shock him,” said Ward. “So I cleared everybody and pushed the button and it was like somebody turned the switch on. He woke up, then he sat up and leaned over, then fell back to the ground and said, ‘man, that really hurt.'”

But it saved Mosley's life.

Medics transferred Mosley to Lutheran Hospital, where he was cleared and released shortly after.

After the event, Ward powered on the defibrillator to print out the EKG report. It was bleak, and painted a picture of how dire the situation really was.

“I'm not medically inclined, so I don't know much other than his heart wasn't beating in a rhythm,” said Ward. “He was in trouble. For me to say he wouldn't have made it, I'm not a doctor. He was in trouble, though.”

Ward said the event changed his life, and while saving a life wasn't the backbone of his enrollment into the state police, it had always been a distant hope.

“It's one of those things you hope you get to do,” said Ward. “You hope that God gives you the opportunity to be in the right place”

Ward said he'll occasionally run into Mosley, who he said works at a Columbia City fast food restaurant.

Ward said he doesn't want recognition for “simply doing my job.”

“Had I gotten a certificate or not, it doesn't matter,” said Ward. “The guy's alive. I get to think about that every day.”