The Saturday afternoon run David Harris took late last month was nothing but routine -- until his heart stopped beating and he collapsed near Orchard Park Country Club.

"It's not every day people drop dead, especially me," he said.

Harris, 44, of Orchard Park, runs two or three times a week. The father of three children was jogging along one of his usual routes April 30 when he dropped to his knees, clutched his chest and fell facedown on the grass.

The story has a happy ending, and Tuesday afternoon he went to the Police Department to meet -- and thank -- those who helped save his life.

In an emotional meeting, he hugged the officer.

"There's no way in my dreams that I would have thought I'd be standing here shaking hands with you a week later," said Officer Jason Schiedel, who responded with the equipment that got Harris' heart pumping.

"Thanks so much for what you did," Harris said. "The fact that not only am I alive -- but all my organs are functioning and everything works -- is because of you, and the speed of you getting there."

Schiedel, 40, who has been a police officer for 20 years, was standing at the dispatch center in the Municipal Center when the call came in shortly before 4 p.m. that Saturday. He raced to his car. Luckily for Harris, Orchard Park patrol cars are equipped with automated external defibrillators.

"I got there in about 30 seconds," he said.

Harris was unconscious with no pulse. Schiedel grabbed the defibrillator; Pete Noeller, a longtime member of the Orchard Park Volunteer Fire Company with training in emergency medical services, parked behind him and offered to help.

In the meantime, Orchard Park police Lt. Bruce Dearborn, who was on his way home from work, saw the commotion and stopped to assist by helping a woman who was doing chest compressions on Harris.

Schiedel slapped the electrodes on Harris' chest. The machine told him to administer two shocks.

"Everything started coming back," Schiedel said. "I got his pulse; he started breathing."

But he still did not know who Harris was because he had no identification with him. The only thing he had was his iPod.

Dispatcher Christina Warmington took the serial number off the device and called the Apple store. Because Harris had registered the iPod, the company was able to tell her his name and e-mail address. She looked in the system and found his home address. Schiedel went to the house and notified Harris' wife, Heather, that her husband had been taken to Mercy Hospital.

Orchard Park EMS transported Harris to the hospital, where he was in the cardiac care unit for five days. He has an implanted pacemaker/defibrillator to keep his heart rate stable.

Harris, marketing director at Fisher-Price, said he plans to continue with an active lifestyle and hopes to return to running when his doctor approves.

Police point to a number of things falling into place to help Harris. Schiedel was nearby, with a defibrillator; several people stopped to help; Orchard Park EMS responded quickly; and Warmington thought to check the serial number on the iPod to identify Harris.

"I have been in other situations where CPR is given. That is the first time in my career I have pressed the shock button," Schiedel said. "Most of the time their heart isn't fluttering, it is stopped."

Heather Harris; their son, Hunter, 12; and Harris' mother, Kay, accompanied him to the Police Department on Tuesday afternoon. Two other children, Hudson and Summer, both 7, were in school.

"Because of you," Harris told Schiedel, "they have a dad."

bobrien@buffnews.com null