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Stoughton good Samaritan saves unconscious man from car wreck

Samara Kalk Derby  —  10/16/2008 6:39 am

Trent Nelson and his sister were driving to meet the rest of their family for breakfast Sunday morning just after 10 a.m., when they came upon a one-car accident on Highway 51 near Lake Kegonsa Road in the town of Dunn.

Trent Nelson, 19, of Stoughton -- using a screwdriver to punch out a window in the car -- wound up saving the 84-year-old victim, who had just suffered a heart attack.

The vehicle was stopped in the other lane of the highway with oncoming traffic coming towards it and was angled down towards a ditch, Nelson said.

He pulled over on the side of the road, as did another car. A man got out of the other car and started tapping on the man's window. As they discovered the victim was unconscious, the car started rolling downhill, smashing into some trees.

Nelson, a full-time student at Madison Area Technical College in criminal justice, began to look for something to break one of the windows, because the car's doors were locked. He found a screwdriver and tried to break out the left rear window. The window shattered and he had to punch out the glass with his hand. He didn't want to use his feet because he was wearing sandals.

He then reached in and unlocked the door, got himself over to the driver's door and unlocked it. Nelson took the man's seat belt off, and put his arms underneath the man's arms and lifted him out slowly, putting the man on his back.

Nelson held up his neck and forehead and the other bystander performed chest compressions.

Meredith Cox, 27, of Stoughton, stopped and administered mouth to mouth until a sheriff's deputy showed up, Nelson said.

Sheriff's Sgt. David Ritter was the first law enforcement official on the scene and immediately began performing CPR on the victim, who was without a pulse and not breathing. Soon after, Deputy Juan Mejia arrived and administered one shock to the man with an automated external defibrillator from his squad car, which restored the man's pulse.

Nelson, for his part, needed nine stitches, six in his forearm and three on his fingers.

"There was blood all over from my forearm. That one was a pretty big gash," Nelson said.

The doctors at Stoughton Hospital, where he got the stitches, told him that the victim was taken by ambulance from the scene to Stoughton Hospital. From there he was taken by Med Flight to UW Hospital, where he immediately underwent open-heart surgery for a blocked artery.

Doctors told Nelson the man, who was from Rockford, Ill., was awake and conscious and doing well after surgery. They also told Nelson that if he hadn't intervened, the man probably would have died.

"This boy is really responsible for saving this man's life," said a nurse at Stoughton Hospital who didn't want her name used. "He is a hero and should be recognized for his bravery and willingness to save the man."

"We're real proud of Trent, to react the way he did in a time when I'm sure there was a lot of activity and a lot of stress," said Trent's father Jeff Nelson. "To see that he kind of pulled himself together and did what he did, we're very proud of him."

Samara Kalk Derby  —  10/16/2008 6:39 am