Toledo firefighter saves a man’s life while playing in a basketball game

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Firefighters are trained to save lives on and off duty, and that’s exactly what one Toledo fireman did when he was in the middle of a basketball game.

The Glass City Basketball Club was playing a game in New York when one of the referees collapsed on the court. Right away, firefighter Myles Copeland was at the game official’s side administering CPR.

David Magley is the president of the basketball league and he witnessed the whole thing.

“He was leaving us, he was changing colors, his breathing was just about out,” said Magley. “Then Myles comes sprinting off the court and he starts pumping on his chest, and I’m looking up thinking who’s this guy, where’d he come from? And then I noticed he had a uniform on and I realized this was one of our players. Myles said, ‘It’s okay, I’m a fireman.’”

“I assessed the situation, trying to see what I could do to fix the problem,” said Copeland. “He didn’t have a pulse, he wasn’t breathing so I instantly started CPR, what I was trained to do.”

Copeland worked on him for over 10 minutes and saved his life. By the time the referee was being wheeled away on a stretcher, he was alert and talking.

“It was just kind of divine timing that I was there in the right place at the right time,” said Copeland.

And witnesses say the whole thing was nothing short of a miracle.

“We would later learn that one percent of the people that get that live. If he was home, he would have died. His wife doesn’t know CPR, there’s no way she could have kept him alive. It took 25 minutes for the people to get there,” said Magley.

The Toledo Fire and Rescue Department and Magley say they are so proud of Copeland.

“He was calm, he’s everything that’s good about our players, he’s everything that’s good about society,” said Magley.

As for Copeland himself, it was just another day on the job.

“It’s a common emergency and everyone should at least know their way around CPR, it can happen to anyone,” said Copeland.

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