Two Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) Correctional Officers are credited with saving a man’s life after he suffered a major heart attack and ran his car off the road in Elk Grove.
Correctional Officers John Farnetti and Chad Painter were on their way to work the swing shift at DVI on Oct. 31 when they spotted a vehicle in the middle of a field off Interstate 5.
They pulled over and Officer Farnetti hopped the four-foot high barbed-wire fence. Meanwhile, Officer Painter attempted to flag down help on the freeway.
Correctional Officers John Farnetti, left, and Chad Painter work at Deuel Vocational Institute. Recently, on their way to work, they saved a man’s life.
“Here was a car in the middle of a field where a farmer’s truck with hay should be,” Officer Farnetti recalled. “It just didn’t look right.”
Officer Painter agreed.
“There was a Honda Civic in the middle of an open field with the windshield wipers moving back and forth and we could see some kind of steam coming from the vehicle,” he said. “When we pulled over, it was a sprint to the car. My partner found a spot to climb the fence while I called 911.”
When Officer Farnetti approached the car, he noticed the air bags had deployed. Inside was a man slumped over and only semi-conscious.
Despite efforts to flag down help, no one stopped.
“My partner was doing jumping jacks, basically, trying to get someone to stop and help,” Officer Farnetti said. “We were about 50 or 60 yards from the freeway in this desolate field so everyone could see us. It’s kind of sad no one stopped.”
Officer Painter said it was very discouraging.
“I was jumping up and down, trying to get somebody to pull over to assist,” he said. “About then, Officer Farnetti got to the vehicle and yelled, ‘There’s somebody in here.’ That’s when I went at a full sprint and hopped the fence.”
The two found the car’s doors were locked so they tried to get the man’s attention.
“I was banging on the car to keep him alert and we could see he was breathing,” Officer Painter said. “We thought he was in shock.”
The victim didn’t respond. The officers tried gaining access another way and Officer Farnetti knew time was valuable.
“When I first came up to the car, I could see a little movement and he was still breathing. When I was looking for something to break the window, there was nothing but plots of dirt and dried up cow patties, it was like a scavenger hunt,” he said. “I didn’t want to take the time to go back to my car, because it was too far away.”
Officer Painter said he tried everything to get in the car.
“We started looking around to find something to break the window. I was throwing dirt clods and keys at the window trying to break it,” Officer Painter recalled. “Then my partner found this rock and threw it through the window.”
With the window broken, they unlocked the doors and pulled the man out of the car and found the victim had stopped breathing.
“My partner did CPR until he got exhausted, then I took over,” Officer Painter said. “We were yelling and screaming and trying to keep the victim alert. When we pulled him out of the vehicle, we couldn’t find a pulse. We think he basically flat-lined and died. Then he kept gasping between CPR (efforts). We were pulling him back.”
The officers took turns performing CPR until paramedics arrived. The paramedics asked Officer Painter to continue CPR while they readied the defibrillator. After paramedics gave him a shock with the defibrillator, the victim was transported to the hospital.
