Security Guard Steps Up To Save Man's Life, Putting His Own At Risk
STOCKTON (CBS13) — Unprecedented times call for extraordinary qualities, and a Stockton security guard is proving heroics are happening in our own backyard.
Instead of succumbing to fear in these uncertain times, he stepped in to save man's life, putting his own at risk.
Not all heroes wear capes, but you could certainly make the argument that Oscar Calderon deserves one.
"I thought he had got hit by a car. It's something you don't want to see. You never want to see somebody injured," Calderon said.
Instead of panicking, Calderon ran to the man bleeding in the middle of Trinity Parkway, pushing aside the fear and anxiety brought on by the coronavirus crisis, and meeting the moment with a calm consciousness.
"I noticed that he didn't have a pulse and I noticed he wasn't breathing," Calderon said. "Immediately I decided to help him out and started compressions. I didn't even think about looking for gloves or putting a mask on because I saw somebody in need and pretty much, I just reacted."
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Within minutes, a woman showed up from a nearby medical building, armed with a defibrillator.
"As soon as she brought the AED over, I connected the gentleman to the AED, shocked him once, continued CPR," he said.
Incredibly, the man, who suffered a heart attack while running, survived. Calderon's boss was not surprised when he learned how he stepped in.
"He was playing it down and I just said 'you exemplify the proper type of security officer to be' and we appreciate him," Dennis Smallie, president of Angelica Guard Services, said.
Perhaps, as the company name implies, something more divine was at play, guiding him to be in the right place at the right time.
"That title 'hero' gets thrown around too much. Heroes are those good parents who take care of their children and raise them well," Calderon said. "To me, those are the heroes, all the good parents."
Before Calderon was a security guard, he spent 23 years as an EMT. He hopes this story teaches others the importance of learning CPR.
