(File Photo of Police Siren Lights)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) Emergency crews in Chippewa Township helped save a 17-year-old Ellwood City boy who suffered sudden cardiac arrest Jan. 2 in the parking lot of the Walmart.

Police officers began CPR after finding the teen unresponsive and without a pulse. An automated external defibrillator (AED) from a police cruiser was used to restore a heartbeat, according to first responders.

Paramedics with Bridgewater Medic Rescue transported the teen to Heritage Valley Beaver, where complications led to him being flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

He was discharged Jan. 9. First responders said he experienced a minor hypoxic brain injury affecting short-term memory and has no known prior medical history. The cause of the cardiac arrest remains under investigation.

Bridgewater Medic Rescue paramedic Abagale Young said the teen was in ventricular fibrillation, a life-threatening heart rhythm in which the heart cannot effectively pump blood.

“He was in a lethal rhythm … his heart was just quivering,” Young said.

The teen plans to pursue a philosophy degree at Geneva College before attending law school.