Suffolk County police saved the life of a 72-year-old bee-sting victim suffering a life-threatening allergic shock — just two days after cop cars were equipped with EpiPens, officials said Tuesday.
Greg Kronrad was working outside his Wyandanch auto-parts business Sunday when a bee sting sent him spiraling into anaphylactic shock, with officers arriving just in time to administer an EpiPen.
“We probably wouldn’t be talking right now if I had to wait for the paramedics or if I had gotten stung three days prior,” Kronrad told The Post.
Suffolk County police officers saved Greg Kronrad’s life after he went into anaphylactic shock from a bee sting. News12 Long Island
Officers administered an EpiPen to Kronrad at his Wyandanch auto-parts business. Suffolk County Police Department
The incident happend just days after all cop cars in the county were equipped with EpiPens. Suffolk County Police Department
He is now the first person treated under a new Suffolk program that outfitted its first five batches of cars just two days before he was stung.
Kronrad collapsed inside his shop and spent nearly 15 minutes struggling and dazed before dialing his son Kevin, who called 911.
The officers, who were recognized for their life-saving actions, arrived on scene and said they found Kronrad on the floor, barely able to breathe before jumping into action and hitting him with two rounds of epinephrine.
The EpiPens were put into police cars thanks to “Gio’s Law.” News12 Long Island
The law was named after Long Island 14-year-old Giovanni Cipriano, who died in 2013 after going into anaphylactic shock on a family vacation. GoFundMe“This is what happens when the government works as intended,” State Sen. Dean Murray (R) said.
New York State passed a law called Gio’s Law in 2019 for EpiPens in police cars, but Suffolk was originally excluded. In 2023, the state gave Suffolk and other municipalities with populations over 1 million the option to opt into programs.
Suffolk is the first county to opt in to the program. New York City has its own EpiPen program.
Gio’s mother Georgina Cornago speaking at a press conference with Rep. Laura Gillen announcing the law. James Messerschmidt
Cornago holding up an EpiPen in front of a photo of her late son. James MesserschmidtNassau and Westchester counties both were left out of the original 2019 passage of New York’s Gio’s Law alongside Suffolk because of technical language that was originally intended only to exclude New York City — which already has their own EpiPen program in place.
A federal version of Gio’s Law was recently sponsored by Rep. Laura Gillen and Rep. Andrew Garbarino, who both represent Long Island.
“It’s great news to hear that law enforcement on Long Island saved a life just 48 hours after equipping their cruisers with EpiPens,” Gillen told The Post.
Activists and lawmakers are now urging Nassau and Westchester to follow Suffolk’s lead and implement the “common-sense” initiative, pointing to Kronrad’s survival as undeniable proof that the model works.
“Three days after deployment, a man’s life was saved — that’s all the proof you need,” Legislator Dominick Thorne, who sponsored Suffolk’s law, told The Post.
