Several good Samaritans save Cape Cod driver’s life

CAPE COD, Mass. — A big Hey Thanks! to several drivers who stopped to save another driver’s life on Cape Cod. Paul Manganella took out his cell phone and started recording a man breaking a driver’s side window because he thought it was a case of road rage.

“I go over to his window and the guy is in dire straits. He’s slumped over to the right. He’s completely passed out while his car was going 70 miles per hour,” Manganella said via a FaceTime interview.

Turns out an unidentified man in his late 50s or 60s suffered some sort of medical issue while driving off-Cape on Route 6 Sunday morning. The man was unconscious when Manganella and several others jumped in to help.

"I grab the window and glass just shoots into my hands and I’m like, ‘give me the gloves, give me the gloves.’ I rip the window down and put the car in park and I unbuckle him and get him out of the car," he said.

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The group of strangers then went to work trying to save another stranger's life. They placed the man in the bed of his pick-up truck and frantically performed CPR.

“I didn’t have a barrier at first. Eventually, someone got me a surgical mask because I left my mask in the car,” Manganella said.

Several other good Samaritans took turns performing chest compressions, including Jennifer Smith. She spent 33 years as a Cape Cod firefighter and 40 years as a paramedic.

"They really were heroic to have the presence of mind to get him out of the truck,” Smith said. “They were doing excellent CPR. Everyone had their game on. They just coordinated with each other so beautifully. It was just remarkable."

A remarkable effort by a remarkable group of strangers who happened to be in the right placed at the right time.

"Nobody cared about [COVID-19.] Not one person was like, ‘oh keep distance.’ I mean it was all about getting the guy out of the car and making sure he was alright until the paramedics got there," Manganella said.

Manganella has to self-quarantine for 14 days since he performed CPR on the driver. He was told the man survived and is in a Boston hospital recovering.

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