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A GMC Sierra driven by retired Sgt. First Class Peter Visconti of Rochelle Park was involved in the four-vehicle crash before slamming into the concrete divider on the westbound highway near the Saddle Brook/Elmwood Park border around 3:45 p.m. Oct. 6, State Police said.
Tow truck driver David Ortega said he pulled over and broke the back window of the pickup.
Hackensack Deputy Fire Chief John Taylor, who'd also stopped, climbed in through the broken window and unlocked the door.
Together, they pulled the 63-year-old Visconti out and onto the roadway.
Taylor and an unidentified nurse who'd also come to the rescue were conducting CPR when NJSP Trooper Kyle Gorman of the Troop “B” station in Totowa arrived with a defibrillator and took over, State Police said.
“After several rounds of CPR, [Visconti] regained a pulse,” they wrote in a social media post, “but he was still gasping for air and struggling to breathe.”
Fellow Troop “B” Trooper Pierre Haddad, who is also an EMT, arrived and used a special medical device to assist in supplying oxygen to the victim until paramedics arrived.
Visconti was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center in critical condition.
“We are happy to report that due to the quick and decisive actions of Trooper Gorman, Trooper Haddad and several other good Samaritans on scene, [Visconti] was able to make a full recovery,” State Police said Wednesday.
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