Coach, Crowd Team Up To Save Life At Staten Island Little League Game
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A coach and the crowd at a Staten Island Little League game came together to perform a lifesaving rescue over the weekend.
Dr. Paul Barbara was one of the first to get to the dugout after Claudio Buono, the past president of the South Shore Little League, suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed during the Opening Day ceremonies Saturday.
"He was dead in the dugout," said Barbara, an emergency room doctor at Staten Island University Hospital who moonlights as a coach. "He was dead; he had no pulse, he was not breathing."
Crowd Performs Lifesaving Rescue At Staten Island Little League Game
Off-duty FDNY Captain Daniel Ciccosanti, a nurse and other first responders were in the crowd and all teamed up to bring Buono back to life, 1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reported.
"We had just this perfect, perfect team," Barbara said.
Many of those involved in the rescue didn't even know each others' names, but immediately began CPR and used a defibrillator to save Buono.
"He's alive now," Barbara said. "You joke about being cops and firemen and nurses, but that's what Staten Island is, we're all people like that."
Buono is recovering and is listed in critical, but stable condition.
