Agents save man who suffers heart attack at border crossing

Associated Press
Feb. 18, 2008 01:00 PM

YUMA- Border Patrol agents saved a man who had a heart attack at a U.S.-Mexico border checkpoint, the agency said Monday.

Agency spokesman Michael Bernacke says the man was traveling by the checkpoint on Interstate 8 in Yuma on Saturday morning.

The man complained of chest pain and believed he was suffering from the symptoms of a heart attack.

Bernacke says the man passed out and began to convulse, and did not have a pulse and was not breathing.

Agents used an automated external defibrillator to give the man an electric shock, which revived his heart. They then conducted rescue breaths on the man until he could breath on his own.