Correctional Officer, Inmates Team Up To Save Heroin Overdose Victim's Life
LAWRENCE (CBS) -- An act of kindness by a group of inmates and an officer from the Essex County Sheriff's Department helped save the life of a man who had overdosed on route I-495 in Lawrence.
Sgt. Dennis Laubner says his highway work detail was just wrapping up for the day when all of a sudden a woman pulled over screaming for help. "She was yelling help me, help me, my is boyfriend dying, he overdosed," Sgt. Laubner said.
Immediately that's when Dennis Dicato and other inmates removed the unresponsive man from the car laid him on the ground and started CPR. "We performed rescue breathing he got his color back and we kept going until paramedics arrived," Dicato said.
Dicato, is a former user himself. "I've been in situations where friends have overdosed and most important thing is to get air to that person," Dicato said.
Sgt. Laubner says he and inmates performed CPR until Paramedics arrived, who then administered Narcan to revive him. "It felt good, I've been clean for three months and it feels good to help someone else," Dicato said.
Saving the man's life has a special meaning for Sgt. Laubner. He lost his own son Chris to a drug overdose ten months ago. "I look down and tears came to my eyes. I don't know if my son was looking down on me or how that girl found us but it was right place at the right time," Sgt. Laubner said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports: