If Vincent Seals hadn’t agreed to pull an extra shift that day, this passenger may not have lived to see his 21st birthday.
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For nearly a year, Vincent has been cleaning subway cars at the Millbrae station of the the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway system in California’s Bay Area. But the Dublin/Pleasanton station was short-handed one day last month and he was asked to come in on his day off to cover a shift.
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He almost said no. And it was a good thing he didn’t.
When he arrived to work a little after midnight, he heard a co-worker calling for help from the lead car. Vincent ran inside and found a young passenger – who, he later found out, had just turned 20 years old the day before – slumped in his seat.
“I checked for a pulse. I didn’t feel one so I put my ear to his mouth to see if I could hear or feel his breath and I couldn’t,” BART wrote on Facebook. “His lips had already turned blue at that point, so I picked him up and laid him on the floor (of the car) to start CPR.â€
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I need you to breathe, follow my voice, come to me, breathe, breathe. That’s what I kept telling him.
Vincent, who learned CPR at a previous job, kept at it until he heard the man take a deep breath. He didn’t quit even when the man started to lose consciousness again. But thanks to him and a BART officer who arrived on the scene, the man had a pulse by the time an ambulance arrived to take him to a nearby hospital.
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Vincent is obviously the hero here, but he gives credit solely to the passenger:
“He’s the hero because he’s the one that had to be determined,” he said. “He wanted to live, he wanted to survive, and I was happy I gave him that opportunity to fight.”
Awesome job, Vincent! Let’s hope any other extra shifts you agree to work aren’t as dramatic, but we’re all thankful you were there that day. Share to spread thanks!
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