By Shavonne Potts
Salisbury Post
Salisbury Police officers Mike McCart and Brad Jordan were on duty Wednesday responding to what appeared to be a wreck that instead turned into a life-saving moment for one truck driver.
Michael Newsome, 48, was driving his tractor trailer at the intersection of Jake Alexander Boulevard and Statesville Boulevard when he apparently had a heart attack. His truck had stopped in the middle of the road, blocking traffic behind him. Newsome is a driver out of Winston-Salem with AJ Pallets.
Jordan was heading to lunch with new officer Gary Maurer.
McCart had just begun his shift for the day. He was at the BP convenience store getting gas when he noticed the truck in the middle of the road.
At the same time, he heard the dispatcher say a woman called 911 saying the driver was slumped over the steering wheel.
McCart, a 28-year officer, climbed into the cab and checked for Newsome’s pulse. He told Jordan the man had none.
The officers pulled Newsome out of his truck, laid him on the asphalt and began CPR.
McCart did chest compressions while Jordan breathed for the man.
Jordan said he wasn’t really thinking; he just reacted.
“You don’t have time to think; you do what you are supposed to do,” he said.
“It’s an automatic thing,” McCart said.
Both Jordan, an officer of 18 years, and McCart are master patrol officers and instructors for basic law enforcement training or “rookie school.” Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is apart of that instruction.
McCart said a couple of minutes passed with the two of them trying to revive Newsome.
Newsome gasped after two breaths, Jordan said. After a few breaths on his own, Jordan again could not find a pulse. The officers resumed CPR.
The Salisbury Fire Department arrived and used an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). According to Jordan, Newsome had a pulse, a weak one, but a pulse nonetheless.
“When you know he’s breathing, you wonder if he’s gonna make it,” Jordan said.
When his pulse was lost, medical personnel once again performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Once Newsome’s pulse was found for the final time, emergency workers loaded him onto a stretcher and took him to Rowan Regional Medical Center.
As the medical personnel were trying to breath life back into the truck driver, passerby Jim Hamm, a truck driver, volunteers to move the tractor trailer. He parked the truck at nearby Salisbury Academy and helped officers find Newsome’s identification and driving paperwork.
It hasn’t registered with Jordan that what they did helped save Newsome’s life.
It’s a good feeling, though, he said.
“It was a good day,” Jordan said.
“It’s a team effort,” McCart said.
McCart added that the effort included the fire department and EMS.
“We were just doing what we were trained to do,” he said.
McCart said he doesn’t feel like a hero.
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I don’t think there’s any heroes in this,” he said.
On Wednesday, McCart visited Newsome, who was in critical, but stable condition. He remained in the hospital Thursday evening in serious condition.
This is the second time McCart has administered CPR in recent weeks.
McCart mentioned that, while on the interstate just a few weeks ago, he and his wife witnessed a wreck. McCart gave the driver CPR; unfortunately, he did not survive.
Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.