Staff Sgt. Robert Niter performed CPR on a jogger who lost consciousness near Houston Sept. 12, helping save the man’s life.
An airman assigned to the medical operations squadron at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, helped save a man’s life while on vacation in Houston last month.
Staff Sgt. Robert Niter III, the noncommissioned officer in charge of optometry, was on his way to a museum with his girlfriend Sept. 12 when they passed a crowd gathered around an unconscious man on the side of the road, according to a base news release.
Niter asked his girlfriend to turn back. He jumped out of the car and ran toward the crowd, who told Niter the man had passed out while jogging. The airman began CPR while someone else dialed 911.
People in the crowd started to pray; one person started helping Niter with CPR after the airman grew tired. For awhile, the man appeared dead, the airman said. After about 25 minutes, he began gasping for air. Rescue workers showed up about five minutes later and helped to stabilized the man, who has fully recovered.
“After speaking with the lead EMT firefighter, he said that without us performing CPR, the guy would have died,” said Niter, who added that he felt like he was in the right place at the right time. “It is something any airman or military member would have done in that case.”
