AUGUSTA, Ga. — A GBI agent was driving in mid-March when he noticed an emergency scene unfolding on the side of the road, and jumped into action.
Steve Foster described in a video published by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the incident, in which he administered Narcan to a man who appeared to be experiencing a severe, potentially deadly overdose.
Foster, who is the GBI Special Agent in Charge of the Georgia Cyber Crime Center, said that as he came upon two women trying to apply CPR to revive the man, "his face had turned purple."
"For all and intents and purposes he was deceased," Foster said, describing how the application of the Narcan had the man up and revived just a couple minutes later.
Foster said when he first saw the scene, he pulled over to block traffic and assist the two women doing CPR.
"One of the people on scene asked if I had any Narcan, because they suspected the victim had been a victim of overdose, and of course we carry Narcan in GBI vehicles," he said.
He added that as he retrieved the Narcan and came back to the scene, the victim "didn't appear to be breathing."
"His face had turned purple and it looked like a very dire situation," he said.
"I initiated the Narcan, they resumed CPR, I helped with chest compressions and after probably one cycle of chest compressions he started breathing again, he was revived," Foster said.
Narcan has been credited with credited with helping save lives during overdoses and is now widely carried by law enforcement and other first responders.
In the incident he witnessed in Augusta, Foster said what most impressed him was the bystanders who first stepped in to help.
"You had two women just going about their business, saw somebody that had that need, and selflessly stopped on the side of the road to give CPR to the man - and without a doubt saved his life," he said.