Duke Police Help Save Man's Life
Two officers use AED on basketball fan
Russell Monjar, 67, was walking to Cameron Indoor Stadium to attend the Duke-Toledo basketball game Sunday when he collapsed in the parking lot.
Duke police Officers Orlando Soto and David Johnson responded to the Card Gym parking lot and checked Monjar for a pulse.
Nothing.
Johnson ran to the police squad car and retrieved an automatic external defibrillator, a device that can restart a heart. As Soto and a volunteer fire chief from Virginia administered breaths and chest compressions, Johnson attached the defibrillator's electrodes to Monjar's body.
The defibrillator sounded, and the rescuers moved away from Monjar's body. A single shock from the defibrillator restarted Monjar's heart, saving his life.
"They said I died," Monjar said from his hospital bed at Duke University Medical Center, where he is being treated. "I was lucky."
The incident with Monjar, who lives outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, marks the first time Duke police have used a defibrillator since the department acquired devices for each squad car several years ago.
Monjar drove 500 miles with friends to see Sunday's Duke game. Duke police officers Soto and Johnson were able to acquire three tickets for Monjar's friends to attend Tuesday's Illinois-Chicago game.