MI Firefighter, State Trooper Help Revive Worker after Shock

WIXOM LAKE, MI—A Michigan State Police trooper and a local firefighter assisted local construction workers in reviving a worker who nearly died from an electrical shock at the failed Edenville Dam site.

About 1:25 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, Trooper Christopher Kustra of the Tri-City Post responded to a call at the Wixom Lake Dike of a man unresponsive after having suffered an electrical shock. When Kustra arrived, he saw CPR was being performed on the unresponsive man.

After confirming the man was not breathing and did not have a pulse, Kustra deployed his automatic external defibrillator (AED) and administered an electric shock. Following use of the AED, the unresponsive man’s heart resumed beating, and he began breathing on his own.

It was soon learned the individual who had been performing CPR when Kustra arrived was Dean Mathews, a 38-year veteran of the Beaverton Fire Department. The contractors working with the victim knew Mathews lived nearby and sought him out for help.

Preliminary investigation suggests that a crane working near 14,400-volt electrical lines caused two of the contractors to receive an electrical shock. The contractors, who work for Gerace Construction, are both listed in stable condition, police said.

A representative for Gerace Construction expressed their gratitude for the life-saving measures undertaken by Kustra and Mathews, as well as three of their employees who immediately began CPR following the incident.

“Unquestionably, the quick and decisive actions of the Gerace Construction employees, Firefighter Mathews and Trooper Kustra saved the life of the unresponsive male,” said Sgt. Joseph L. Rowley of the Tri-City Post.

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