Man collapsed in a Tacoma Mall cellphone store. A quick-thinking employee saved his life
A man who nearly died at a Tacoma Mall cellphone store may owe his life to a quick-thinking employee who knew CPR.
The man was inside a Sprint store Monday morning to discuss his bill with employee Cristian Gibbs. Suddenly, the man complained of chest pain.
Gibbs asked the customer if he had jaw pain. The man said no but his arm was tingling.
Gibbs, 37, had spent a year as an emergency medical technician on Bainbridge Island. He got up from his chair to take the man’s pulse. But the man’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed.
Fellow employee Xavier Moore caught the customer.
“He just kind of falls over into my arms,” Moore, 26, said Thursday.
Gibbs and Moore lowered the man to the floor and Gibbs dialed 911. Gibbs took the man’s pulse. It was slow and infrequent. Then he stopped breathing.
The 911 operator told employees to start CPR but Gibbs had already begun chest compressions.
Tacoma firefighters and paramedics arrived within three to four minutes, Gibbs said.
“I’m just grateful for them to be so quick and responsive,” Gibbs said.
The man regained consciousness before he was transported to a local hospital.
“He had tears coming down and he said thank you,” Gibbs recalled.
Gibbs spoke with the man on Thursday, just before he was discharged from a local hospital.
“For me, it was an emotional conservation,” Gibbs said.
The man called him a hero, but Gibbs downplayed his role in the event.
“I’m not a hero,” Gibbs said. “I’m just some guy at the right place, at the right time.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 6:26 PM.
