Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lept into action when a KCAL television news photographer collapsed while covering a press event on Thursday.
The incident unfolded at the L.A. Police Department’s training academy in Elysian Park where Bass joined LAPD Chief Michel Moore in congratulating the graduating class of recruits.
According to KNX News Radio reporter Craig Fiegener who witnessed the incident, the photographer collapsed and hit his head on the ground.
“The very first person to run to his rescue was the mayor,” Fiegener said.
KNX shared cell phone footage on X, formerly Twitter, that shows Bass, an LAPD officer and another person tending to the injured man.
“A couple of people who, I don’t know if they were medics but they had some medical equipment, helped wrap his head up from the bleeding … but the mayor was the one who was in charge,” Fiegener said.
Bass, who worked as a nurse and physician assistant before getting into politics, checked that he was breathing and then took his pulse.
Despite the presence of numerous police officers, “the only one who immediately knew what to do was the mayor” Fiegener recalled, adding that he has known the photographer for more than a decade and was personally shaken up by the incident.
An ambulance arrived about 15 or 20 minutes later and paramedics transported the man to the hospital. His condition was unknown until Friday evening when KCAL provided an encouraging update.
“Our photographer is home and feeling back to normal. He expects to be back to work next week,” the station said in a statement to KTLA.