MLGW crews save a man's life

Front row (L to R): Overhead Electric Crew Leader David Hinchey, Shadburne Old Ill, Daniel Reed, Thomas Malone, Cade Shackelford; Back row: Underground Electric Crew Leader Justin McCarter, and Zachery Doty

A truck driver is lucky to be alive after suffering a heart attack at an MLGW job site.

An 18-wheel flatbed truck driver pulled up on an MLGW electric job site at 7900 block of Lowrance and Hacks Cross. The driver stopped and asked the crew if he could get around the construction zone because the road was blocked. A four-man overhead electric crew and a three-man underground crew were working the same job site.

The crews moved two of their work vehicles. About that time, MLGW’s overhead Electric Distribution crew leader David Hinchey said, “I noticed the driver was easing forward. He eased right into one of our poles. I ran around the truck and jumped up on the side. He was slumped toward the middle of the seat. I could see that he was struggling to breathe.”

Hinchey yelled for lineman Shadburne Old III to help the driver while he radioed the dispatcher to call an ambulance. “Shad told me he didn’t think the driver had a pulse,” Hinchey said.

Hinchey instructed the five remaining linemen to pull the driver out of the truck and lay him on the ground.

When they couldn’t find a pulse, Old started CPR. For 17 minutes, Old and Hinchey traded off performing CPR. Others assisted with the traffic until the paramedics arrived.

“The paramedics told us if it weren’t for what we had done for him, the driver probably wouldn’t be alive,” Hinchey said. “This all boils down to training from working at MLGW. We’re trained on how to react in an emergency like this.”

“It’s a wonderful feeling to know that we saved a man’s life,” he added. He’s hoping to meet the driver once he recovers.

In addition to Hinchey and Old, the other crew members included linemen Daniel Reed, Thomas Malone, Cade Shackelford, Justin McCarter and Zachery Doty.