What began as a speeding ticket turned into life-saving CPR for an 84-year-old driver who’s thanking cops for pulling him over. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
It's not often a speeding ticket, of all things, saves a man's life.
But that's what's happened when 84-year-old Gavin Falconer took his wife Janet out for some ice cream.
Gavin, however, was doing 40 in a 25 miles-per-hour zone. That's when he was pulled over by a police cruiser.
Police dash cam video shows Kennebunk, Maine, police officer Matthew Harrington approaching the car.
"Can I please have your license, registration, and insurance," asked Harrington.
The officer returned to his cruiser, and was in the process of filling out a warning when he heard screams. The driver had gone into convulsions.
Gavin's wife Janet recalled, "Really shaking violently, then all of a sudden he went limp, I screamed out the window."
Officer Harrington found her in hysterics.
Wife Janet told Harrington, "Call 911."
The officer asked, "What's going on?"
Janet replied, "Hurry up. Oh, God. Call 911. He's having a stroke or something. Oh, please. Oh, God!"
"I just pulled him out into the street right here started doing chest compressions," recalled officer Harrington.
As luck would have it, officer Harrington was also a trained paramedic. As he started CPR some Good Samaritans offer to help.
One man asked: "You need help?"
The officer replied urgently: " Yeah, I do, now."
Gavin Falconer had flat lined.
"Pulse?" asked one of the bystanders.
"Nothing," responded Harrington
"I could hear him say 'there's no pulse,' I was so scared," said wife Janet.
Another police officer, Michael Tucci, rushed to the scene. He had an automatic external defibrillator in his patrol car.
Officer Tucci said, "You do what you're trained to do, and you can only hope that the best is going to come of it."
Officer Harrington stood by preparing to shock.
Falconer's body reacted with a sharp jump as the defibrillator delivered an electric jolt. After the electiric shock, officer Harrington continued CPR.
Four minutes later, the ambulance arrived, a miracle has happened. Gavin Falconer is alive with his doctor saying his heart sounds good.
A mini defibrillator has been implanted in his chest.
Back home, INSIDE EDITION was there as the retired contractor joked around with the officers who pulled him over for speeding and, in the process, gave him a second chance at living.
"They saved my life, no question about it." said Falconer.
