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New Jersey candidate for mayor saves woman's life while campaigning door-to-door

A New Jersey mayoral candidate campaigning door-to-door saved the life of a 68-year-old woman who had fallen on her kitchen floor several days earlier, police said.

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David Merwin, 64, an Old Bridge Township councilman, was campaigning Saturday and knocked on the door of a home in a 55-and-over community, NJ.com reported. When he noticed the home's lights were on and the mailbox was stuffed with letters, he asked a neighbor if anyone had seen the resident, the website reported.

Merwin walked around the condominium, looked in a window and saw a woman lying face down on the kitchen floor,

"I recognized that the lights were on. There were days and days worth of mail," Merwin told WCBS "Finally, on the third window, I could see a body laying on the ground.".

Merwin called 911 and kicked in the sliding glass door, the television station reported.

"I (have) seen a little movement of her leg," Merwin told WCBS. "There was definitely evidence that she was there multiple days."

Police said Rose Sweeney, 68 was taken to a hospital.

Merwin visited Sweeney in the hospital Monday and said she was in good spirits, NJ.com reported.

"She said, ‘Who are you?’ and I said, “I’m the guy who kicked your door in,” Merwin told the website.

Merwin said his 47 years with the Laurence Harbor First Aid Squad enabled him to act quickly. His first call in 1972 was to the same neighborhood, WCBS reported. He still works four nights a week with the ambulance service.

"I've delivered a baby and saved a few lives, but this was different," Merwin told NJ.com. "It felt good, but the Lord put me on that path to find her."