Dramatic dash-cam video has surfaced showing life-saving actions by an RCMP officer and a Good Samaritan, who administered first aid to a man believed to have been experiencing a fentanyl overdose.
RCMP told CTV News the incident started with a small crash involving a car and a pickup truck in the Athabasca-area back in September. The female driver of the truck had been rushing her friend to hospital for emergency medical care at the time.
A camera mounted on the dashboard of an RCMP cruiser captured the dramatic aftermath. An RCMP officer is seen giving chest compressions to the man, while a civilian gives the man mouth-to-mouth, all three individuals in the back of the moving pickup truck.
“He’s taking curves, he’s driving, I can’t imagine the adrenaline level of the people in the back of that truck, in the vehicle following,” Cpl. Laurel Scott with RCMP said.
Police said an ambulance had been called, but it was 17 minutes away, and there was very little time to spare.
“The member on scene decided that time was of the essence, it was critical to get this man to the hospital, they didn’t have time to wait for EMS to arrive,” Scott said. “[They] put him in the back of that pickup truck, and doing CPR the whole duration of the drive to the hospital.”
The truck drove through a neighbourhood first, then onto a highway, all the while maintaining CPR. Eventually, they made it to hospital.
“They took over at the hospital, took over from our member and the civilian and they managed to save his life,” Scott said.
RCMP have asked that the names of the officer and civilian not be released.
At the time of the incident, RCMP said officers were receiving training on administering Naloxone, an opioid antidote, but it hadn’t yet been distributed to every detachment.
With files from Jeremy Thompson
