SAN ANTONIO – A 61-year-old man who a Methodist Hospital representative says was without a pulse for five minutes is up and talking again, thanks to quick-thinking workers at 57 Auto Sales, who started CPR after he passed out.
The heart attack victim, Robert Mauricio, said the life-threatening episode was caught on camera.
“I told him, I said, 'I don't know if I’m having a seizure. I don't feel good,'” Mauricio said he told an employee before passing out and waking up at the hospital.
“Convulsing, I didn’t expect it to be real, because who’s going to tell you that something's happening when it happens?” said Bernie Lopez, who was completing the deal with Mauricio before the episode.
Even though Mauricio said he never had heart problems, it was real.
The video shows the moments after Lopez runs out of the room for help and shows workers administering CPR.
“It’s like you could never give enough thanks or pay enough thanks for what they've done for me,” Mauricio said.
Moments after the dealership workers began saving Mauricio’s life, medics arrived and took over from there.
Mauricio was in good spirits on Thursday, sitting up and talking in the hospital.
As for the car he wanted, “he wanted me to go sign him up at the hospital," Lopez said about the dealer. “I told him ... we put it on hold ... but yeah, he's going to get the car.”
Mauricio said he's excited about buying that Mitsubishi Outlander after he gets out of the hospital, which may be on Saturday. He said he already had four stents put in his heart, and he's having two more put in Friday. Car or not, he says it will be a merry Christmas.
