Fast-Acting Police Save Man Suffering Cardiac Arrest in New York Diner: ‘Without Them, I’m Not Here’

Fast-acting police officers are being hailed heroes after saving a man who was suffering cardiac arrest at a diner in Old Westbury, New York, last month.

Police officers sprang to action on March 17, performing CPR on a man who had gone into cardiac arrest at the Old Westbury Diner in New York, according to a report by Yahoo! News.

Body camera footage shard by the Old Westbury Police Department — via Storyful — showed 75-year-old Phillip Amico being pulled from his chair, before officer John Kassebaum began administering CPR on him.

Police reportedly said that they were called to the diner to address Amico’s medical emergency, and arrived at the scene to find the 75-year-old unresponsive with no pulse.

“He stopped breathing for like a minute,” diner manager Marlene Salna told CBS News.

Amico was reportedly having breakfast with his accountant, when he began to sweat and then passed out.

After gently helping him to the floor, officers performed CPR and then used a defibrillator until he started breathing and then talking again.

“It was a miraculous recovery to get to the scene of someone who was completely unresponsive, to going through that entire process to being able to speak,” Old Westbury Chief of Police Stuart Cameron said.

Three weeks later, Amico reportedly met with the officers who responded to the incident and thanked them.

“It’s emotional because without them, I’m not here,” Amico said. “The most important thing to me is how these people responded. A minute here, a minute there, I would be dead.”

“These guys did the right thing, and I’m alive because of it,” the retired banker and grandfather added.

Meanwhile, the Old Westbury Police Department said it will present Kassebaum — as well as officer Michael Avelin and detective Michael Brown — with an award for their life-saving efforts.

“A grandfather. It’s great to see. It means a lot,” Kassebaum said. “It’s kind of what we all signed up to do. I became a police officer to help people and I got to do that.”

Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.