[July 19, 2008]

Shock treatment: Quick action saves deputy's life

(The Anniston Star Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 19--Call it luck, fate, fortune or providence. A Calhoun County deputy lived to see another day after the quick reactions of a local investigator and a lawyer saved his life Thursday.

Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said the deputy, Robert McGinnis, was working at his post behind the security desk at the entryway of the Calhoun County Courthouse around 4:30 p.m. when he passed out.

"He had an issue with his potassium level," said Amerson. "Apparently if it falls enough it can make your heart quit beating."

The courthouse was all but deserted, said Alex Ference, an investigator with the Calhoun-Cleburne County District Attorney's Office, who was working late.

Ference said a handful of people, including a few lawyers, were slowly trickling out of the building.

"Normally I would have been gone by that point," Ference said. "I was working a little bit late. Just as I hit the inner doors, I heard a female attorney scream."

When Ference turned toward the security desk, he recognized that McGinnis was having a serious medical problem, he said.

He quickly grabbed McGinnis' radio and called the Sheriff's Office for help. Ference and Anniston attorney Carey Kirby pulled McGinnis out from behind the security counter.

"He was looking really bad and we couldn't get a pulse, so I told a deputy to get the defibrillator," Ference said.

According to Ference, the courthouse has only one of the units, which send an electric shock through the body to stabilize or reinitiate a heart attack victim's heartbeat.

When the courthouse purchased the unit several years ago, Eric Patterson, who is in charge of security at the courthouse, asked Ference if he wanted to sit in on the training. Ference agreed, and the two went to the class together and joked about having to use the razor -- which is included in the defibrillator pack -- to shave the chest of a hairy person, he said.

"We never thought we'd have to use one of these machines at all," Ference said.

But Ference, who has worked in the DA's office since 2000 and who was a deputy for five years before that, suddenly was working on "Bobby," someone he has known for several years.

"It was really scary. His eyes were getting glazed over," Ference said.

Kirby also has known McGinnis for some time. He said Kirby had always been good to him and very friendly.

"I was just praying that there would be something we could do to help," Kirby said.

Ference said the diagrams illustrating how to use the device are self-explanatory.

"This was my first time to use one," he said.

"The machine pretty much handles everything. At first I wasn't sure if he was having a stroke or a seizure or something else. But he wasn't responding," he said.

Ference attached the patches that conduct electricity into the body to McGinnis' chest and let the machine evaluate whether the deputy needed to be shocked.

After a few moments the machine warned the men to stand clear and sent electricity through McGinnis' body.

Shortly after the shock they saw that McGinnis had a pulse and was breathing, Kirby said.

"That was the first time I've ever seen anything like that," Kirby said. "I mean, we checked for a pulse. He was dead."

By that point other deputies and more help had arrived, Ference said.

An ambulance was not far behind, and McGinnis was taken to a local hospital.

Ference said McGinnis already was becoming more alert by the time he was transported.

By Friday, McGinnis had shown significant progress.

"He was in the ICU Friday and he was alert, talking and doing amazingly well," Amerson said.

McGinnis was awaiting the results of some tests on Friday, but it was clear that Ference and Kirby saved his life, the sheriff said.

McGinnis, a retired Talladega police officer, has been with the sheriff's office a couple of years, working part time at the courthouse post, Amerson said.

Court Clerk Ted Hooks said the last time court officials priced the defibrillation units, they cost several thousand dollars.

"We are going to try to get a couple more," Hooks said. They clearly showed their value Thursday, he said.

About Nick Cenegy

Nick Cenegy is crime and courts beat writer for The Star.

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