Veteran Newberry deputy credited with saving life of ‘unresponsive’ woman

Lieutenant Odell Schumpert

NEWBERRY COUNTY, S.C. (PRESS RELEASE) – A Newberry County Deputy Sheriff is being credited with saving a woman’s life after finding her unresponsive in her living room.

Lieutenant Odell Schumpert was working with the Newberry County Housing Authority on May 4, when he entered an apartment with an employee of the Housing Authority. Once inside, they discovered the resident lying unresponsive in the living room.

Lieutenant Schumpert immediately called for an ambulance. He checked for a pulse and not finding one began CPR using chest compressions. Lieutenant Schumpert was able to revive the woman, who was then transported by EMS for medical treatment.

“It is without a doubt that Lt. Schumpert saved her life this morning,” said Carrie Epting of the Newberry Housing Authority in her laudatory email to Sheriff Lee Foster. “We truly thank Lt. Schumpert for his quick thinking and expert training to help get our resident back until EMS could arrive.”

“We are proud of Lieutenant Schumpert,” said Sheriff Foster. “He is a fine officer and we are pleased that his training and experience allowed him to immediate react to this situation and revive this person.”

“In a world where law enforcement is often labeled in a negative light, we pray that it is acts of service such as this that show that we are truly here to protect and serve the citizens of Newberry County,” said Foster. “We believe that our training and experience in conjunction with the dedicated service of all of the employees of the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office are what set us apart.

“Newberry County is blessed with some of the finest first responders anywhere,” said Sheriff Foster. “Both the paid and the volunteer employees do an outstanding job and far too often, we can become so accustomed to this level of service that we take it for granted. I pray that we never take for granted the service and sacrifice of such great people in this county.”

Lieutenant Schumpert has been with the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office 21 years and is assigned to the patrol division as a shift Lieutenant. He was working secondary employment through the Sheriff’s Office with the housing authority when this occurred.