When Bee Cave police officers John Paul Meiners and Tim Taylor responded to the call of an unresponsive driver who had been in an accident at the Hill Country Galleria, they saved his life by performing CPR and using an external defibrillator.

Paul Dowdy suffered a heart attack July 27 at about 4:30 p.m. while driving behind the galleria’s guest services center and Chico’s. After a 9-1-1 call went out from a store employee, witnesses began gathering around the van.

Meiners and Taylor arrived at the scene and immediately assessed Dowdy’s condition. Meiners is an EMT-intermediate, and Taylor is a U.S. Army veteran of eight-and-a-half years who performed CPR several times in combat zones.
Despite several unsuccessful attempts to revive unconscious victims, both officers pushed those thoughts out of their minds to focus on Dowdy.
“His chance of survival depends on us, and we were going to do everything we could to help him out,” said Meiners, who has served with Bee Cave Police Department for about two years.
They administered chest compressions — switching off when one officer would grow tired — but Dowdy had no pulse and was not breathing.
Taylor, who has been an officer with BCPD for about two-and-a-half years, then retrieved an AED from his patrol car and delivered three shocks over the course of their efforts.
They were elated when they got a pulse on Dowdy.
“We were excited because we had some signs of life that we previously didn’t think we would be able to get,” Meiners said.
Seconds later, their spirits crashed when they lost vital signs.
“You sit there praying and hoping that you can get his pulse back and give this guy a chance to get back (to life),” he said.
They continued compressions and AED shocks until Lake Travis Fire Rescue and Austin Fire Department arrived on the scene and Dowdy’s pulse was restored and he was stabilized.
No sooner had Dowdy’s condition improved than firefighters identified air-conditioning repair chemicals and other pressurized gases that could have been damaged in the accident.
The officers and firefighters then switched gears to ensure the safety of hundreds of additional lives by clearing two buildings at the galleria and halting pedestrian traffic in the vicinity as a precaution.
“It was like a rollercoaster,” Meiners said.
Paramedics transported Dowdy to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center where he underwent heart bypass surgery and was discharged.
Their efforts earned them a City Council proclamation that was set for Tuesday night’s regular meeting to honor the officers. Dowdy’s family and employers were scheduled to attend as well.
“I, Caroline Murphy, Mayor, on behalf of the City Council of the City of Bee Cave, Texas, do hereby recognize with the deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation Officer Tim Taylor and Officer John Meiners for their selfless and heroic action … ,” stated a portion of the proclamation.
The officers also earned praise from Bee Cave Police Chief Rusty Pancoast.
“I think it is a superb example of the often unthought-of response capabilities that the Bee Cave Police Department offers to the citizens of and visitors to the City of Bee Cave,” Pancoast said. “They did a great job.”
Meiners and Taylor, however, aren’t seeking the spotlight for their life-saving actions.
“We don’t think that we did anything spectacular. Our focus was on helping him live,” Meiners said. “We are both very, very glad to see that he is doing better and has a chance at fulfilling a longer life.”
Taylor urged everyone to take life-saving courses to ready themselves for incidents that could strike at any moment.
“You never know where and when it could happen,” he said.
Meiners agreed that no one can predict when they will be called on to perform life-saving techniques.
“I think there’s nothing scarier than needing to do something and not knowing how to do it, and then realizing that maybe you could have made a difference,” he said. “There’s nothing that beats having the training and becoming proficient at it.”