Two Broward County, Fla. sheriffs deputies are being hailed as heroes for saving the life of a passenger who had suffered a heart attack minutes after stepping off a plane.
BSO said deputies Dave Kofalk and Joe Baxter were handling an arrest warrant Friday afternoon when they were told that a man had collapsed outside the U.S. Customs area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
When they arrived, they found the 59-year-old man was not breathing and had no pulse. A bystander was giving CPR. Kofalk reached for a nearby Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and with Baxter's assistance delivered a shock to the man's heart. The deputies also used CPR to keep the man alive.
Paramedics soon arrived and took the man to Broward General Medical Center. The man was returning from a trip to Mexico with his wife. He had landed at Fort Lauderdale to take a connecting flight to his Michigan home.