NORFOLK, Va. — On a cold Monday morning, Virginia State Trooper Devin Hacker pulled into a 7-Eleven on Tidewater Drive to get gas, but it’s his blood that starts pumping.
A man was laying lifeless on the ground in front of the store.
“He had no pulse; unconscious. He was basically taking his last breaths,” explained Hacker.
Hacker immediately called for EMS, but he knew the victim might not survive the wait.
“You don’t really have time to take in and feel your emotions. It’s just pure action trying your best to bring them back.”
The man wasn’t breathing, and time was ticking away, minute by minute.
Hacker gave him a dose of NARCAN in case it was an overdose situation, but there still was no pulse.
He started CPR: 30 chest compressions and two breaths - over, and over, and over again.
“About six minutes in, we had a 7-Eleven employee actually come out and help me. At that time, she got about three sets of 30 compressions in and I was giving rescue breaths, and I noticed his eyes started to open up.”
That was the first sign of life and a second chance at life.
After 10 minutes, the man began breathing on his own and eventually fully recovered at the hospital.
“It’s indescribable the relief I felt when I felt a strong pulse come back."
Life-and-death situations don’t happen every day for a Trooper, but for Hacker, it’s the third time this year. He says back in January, he used a tourniquet to stop a man who was shot in the leg from bleeding and also helped a woman get paramedics for her son who was choking and couldn’t breathe.
“Maybe it’s I’m just in the right place in the right time; maybe it’s divine intervention. Who knows?”
One thing is for sure - he’s a good bet if your life depends on it.
“I always wanted to help people, and here I am... accomplished my dreams.”
