By FDNY
ELMHURST, N.Y. — At around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 18, Elmhurst Hospital Police Officer Nicholas Esposito was buying coffee from the Zion Grocery and Deli on 41st Avenue. Moments later, he collapsed, face down on the sidewalk.
Lucky for him, his guardian angel was buying pizza down the street.
Off-duty EMT Jack Lin from Station 49 performed CPR on Officer Esposito moments after the man collapsed and went into cardiac arrest, saving his life.
“This is the best gift,” said EMT Lin, when he was reunited with the police officer at Elmhurst Hospital on Dec. 24. “I don’t have words for it.”
The EMT was flagged down by bystanders after they witnessed the officer fall.
He asked them to call 9-1-1, as he moved the victim to his back. The man, who was covered in the coffee he just purchased, had shallow breathing and no pulse, so EMT Lin began chest compressions.
The EMT was nursing a sprained wrist, an injury he received on the job in November, but said he did not feel any pain as he did compressions for several minutes before firefighters from Engine 307 arrived and shocked the victim’s heart with a defibrillator.
“It was definitely a team effort,” said EMT Lin.
The 53-year-old officer - who is bruised from the fall - awakened the following day, when his 11-year-old son held his hand. He said he does not remember anything that happened that night, but he and his family are grateful for EMT Lin’s actions.
“This is the best Christmas ever,” the officer’s wife, Carol Esposito, said when she met EMT Lin.
Officer Esposito’s mother, Antoinette Esposito, turned 81 the day her son collapsed and has lost three daughters to heart attacks in recent years. She brushed away tears as she said, “I’m very happy. I got the best gift of all for Christmas and my birthday.”
Doctors say Officer Esposito needs a triple bypass, but is expected to make a full recovery.
“He’s one of the lucky ones,” said Dr. Deborah Reynolds, Director of the Critical Care Unit at Elmhurst Hospital.
Yet with all this attention, EMT Lin remained humble, saying, “I feel like I’m getting more credit than I deserve.”
Officer Esposito stopped him. “You deserve it,” he said. “If you weren’t there … forget it.”
Since EMT Lin never got to finish his pizza from Louie’s on Baxter Avenue that night, the pizzeria gave the EMT Lin a free pie.