A beloved elementary-school teacher’s heart stopped beating after a game of tug-of-war at a Long Island fund-raiser — where quick-thinking audience members helped save his life.
Lonnie Hughes, 58, who teaches fourth grade at Phillips Avenue Elementary School, collapsed onto the gym floor in cardiac arrest during “Crazy Sports Night” at Riverhead HS at around 8:50 p.m. Friday, an ambulance corps source said.
EMT Jennifer Kelly, who was rooting for her nephew’s school, rushed to Hughes’ side and performed CPR with the help of two teachers, Gregory Wallace and Dave McKillop, the source said.
It didn’t work — so they shocked him back to life using a defibrillator from a stand-by ambulance parked outside the school.
“He did die,” said Joey Oliver, head of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps. “They just brought him back to life.