Old Westbury police revive man who overdosed in his car on the Long Island Expressway
Old Westbury police saved a man's life after he overdosed behind the wheel of his car on the Long Island Expressway Friday morning.
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Old Westbury police saved a man's life after he overdosed behind the wheel of his car on the Long Island Expressway Friday morning.
Officials say a New York Department of Transportation employee found the driver with only minutes of his life left.
Police say at around 9:45 a.m. Friday, a DOT help truck saw a black Land Rover parked on the shoulder of the LIE eastbound near Post Road.
They say that the DOT driver saw that the man behind the wheel, 45-year-old Rafael Cornelious, of Oyster Bay, was unresponsive and called police.
Old Westbury police officers got him out of the car, found he had no pulse and realized he was not breathing.
They began CPR and administered Narcan when they believed he may have overdosed.
Cornelious then began breathing on his own and his pulse returned.
Old Westbury Police Chief Stuart Cameron says luckily, Cornelious’s car was parked and not in motion because someone else could have lost their life.
"The two officers from the Old Westbury Police Department saved this individual's life and gave him a second chance,” he said. “I hope that he uses a second chance fruitfully and turns his life around and changes things because, literally, his life was saved today."
Police also found a substance in the car that they believe is heroin.
Cornelious was brought to Nassau University Medical Center. He's facing charges of driving while ability impaired by drugs and possession of a controlled substance.
