In August of last year, Durham police officer Gerry Elliott was directing game traffic in front of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
“I remember taking a step to walk out of the intersection and everything went white,” Elliott said.
He fell and a fellow officer caught him.
“He told me he rolled me over and when he rolled me over, my complexion was kind of grayish blue and my lips were dark blue,” Elliott recalled.
Elliott’s heart stopped beating.
An EMT grabbed an automatic external defibrillator (AED) from the park’s office, and shocked his heart back to life.
A quick response and the AED saved Elliott’s life.
“We call them idiot proof, I mean, they basically show you where to put the pads, you hit a button and step back and it tells you what to do next,” Elliott said.
“I used to believe in luck, but now I just believe that I’m really blessed. I really do,” he said.
