Shock treatment: Quick action saves deputy’s life
Shock treatment: Quick action saves deputy’s life
[July 19, 2008]
Shock treatment: Quick action saves deputy’s life
The Anniston Star Via Acquire Media NewsEdge Jul. 19–Call it luck, fate, fortune or providence. A Calhoun County deputy lived to see another day after the quick reactions of a local investigator and a lawyer saved his life Thursday.
Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said the deputy, Robert McGinnis, was working at his post behind the security desk at the entryway of the Calhoun County Courthouse around 4:30 p.m. when he passed out.
“He had an issue with his potassium level,” said Amerson. “Apparently if it falls enough it can make your heart quit beating.”
The courthouse was all but deserted, said Alex Ference, an investigator with the Calhoun-Cleburne County District Attorney’s Office, who was working late.
Ference said a handful of people, including a few lawyers, were slowly trickling out of the building.
“Normally I would have been gone by that point,” Ference said. “I was working a little bit late. Just as I hit the inner doors, I heard a female attorney scream.”
When Ference turned toward the security desk, he recognized that McGinnis was having a serious medical problem, he said.
He quickly grabbed McGinnis’ radio and called the Sheriff’s Office for help. Ference and Anniston attorney Carey Kirby pulled McGinnis out from behind the security counter.
“He was looking really bad and we couldn’t get a pulse, so I told a deputy to get the defibrillator,” Ference said.
